Bernalillo County, NM Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

Section 54-56 opens with findings that juvenile violence, gang activity and crime by those under 17 have increased in the county, and states its purpose as protecting minors, enforcing parental responsibility, and reducing juvenile crime. on Friday and Saturday nights until just after midnight. Subsection (d) creates three offenses: a minor who remains in a public place or on an establishment's premises during curfew hours; a parent or guardian who knowingly permits, or through insufficient control allows, a minor to do so; and an establishment's owner, operator or employee who knowingly allows a minor to remain on the premises during curfew.

Subsection (e) lists nine defenses, including being accompanied by a parent or guardian, running a parent-directed errand without a detour, interstate travel, going to or from employment or a supervised school, religious or recreational activity without a detour, facing an emergency, standing on the sidewalk abutting the minor's own or a non-complaining neighbor's residence, exercising First Amendment rights, and being married or otherwise having disabilities of minority removed; a separate defense protects an establishment operator or employee who promptly notified the sheriff's office that a minor refused to leave.

Subsection (f) requires an officer to ask the person's age and reason for being out, and bars a citation or arrest unless the officer reasonably believes an offense occurred and no defense applies. Subsection (g) makes each day or part of a day of a continuing violation a separate offense.