Since February, there have been six reported flash mob attacks in downtown Minneapolis.  Downtown Improvement District Workers and several hundred private security guards who work in downtown offices help to alert police.  Police have made four arrests and have beefed up patrols and video monitoring but this can’t be good for business.

As the issue becomes more public, the glib Minneapolis Mayor has not offered any solutions.  Now the Minneapolis police are asking the city attorney if they can impose a curfew of 8 p.m. on anyone 17 years and under along Nicollet Mall and Hennepin Avenue.  The question, however, is will a curfew work.  Research suggests a curfew will not help.
    
“A quick search through some academic studies on Google Scholar produced results such as this, from the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: ‘The evidence does not support the argument that curfews prevent crime and victimization. Juvenile crime and victimization are most likely to remain unchanged after implementation of curfew laws.’

Also, Politifact.com, a consortium of researchers and reporters who fact-check politician’s claims, recently awarded a ‘mostly true’ badge on its truth-o-meter to this quote from criminologist Mike Males: ‘There’s pretty much no question that [the curfew ordinances] aren’t effective in either reducing crime or preventing harm to young people.’”

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/03/31/mpls-police-ponder-8-p-m-curfew-after-youth-mob-attacks/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/rosenwald-md/post/do-curfew-laws-actually-work/2011/07/27/gIQAQ8ZucI_blog.html

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=443734430811481663&as_sdt=20000005&sciodt=0,21&hl=en

http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2011/jul/22/mike-males/limited-studies-say-teen-curfews-ineffective/