Amarillo, TX Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

Sec. daily and defines Minor as anyone under seventeen years of age. Sec. 10-3-72 creates three offenses: a minor commits an offense by remaining in any public place or on an establishment's premises during curfew hours; a parent or guardian commits an offense by knowingly permitting, or by insufficient control allowing, the minor to remain out during those hours; and a business owner, operator, or employee commits an offense by knowingly allowing a minor to remain on the premises during curfew. Sec. 10-3-73 lists nine affirmative defenses, covering a minor accompanied by a parent or guardian, running an errand at a parent's direction without detour, traveling interstate, working or commuting to/from a job without detour, responding to an emergency, standing on the sidewalk outside the minor's own or a non-complaining neighbor's home, attending a supervised school, religious, or city-sponsored recreational activity, exercising First Amendment rights, or having had disabilities of minority removed under Family Code Chapter 31.

Business operators get a separate defense if they promptly notified police that a minor refused to leave. Sec. 10-3-74 requires an officer to ask the person's age and reason for being out before any citation or arrest, and bars enforcement unless the officer reasonably believes an offense occurred and no defense applies. Sec. 10-3-75(b) requires Municipal Court to waive jurisdiction over a minor offender and refer the case to juvenile court when Texas Family Code Sec. 08 requires it. The ordinance's current form runs through amendments as recent as Ord. No. 7946 in January 2022.