Gretna, LA Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

on any Saturday or Sunday. Subsection (b) creates three distinct offenses: a minor commits an offense by remaining in a 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 do so; and the owner, operator or employee of an establishment commits an offense by knowingly allowing a minor to remain on the premises during curfew hours. Subsection (c) lists nine defenses, including being accompanied by a parent or guardian, running an errand at a parent's direction without detour, traveling in interstate commerce, working or commuting to/from a job, responding to an emergency, standing on the sidewalk abutting the minor's own residence or a consenting next-door neighbor's, attending a supervised school, religious or recreational activity, exercising First Amendment rights, or being married or otherwise having disabilities of minority removed.

Enforcement is deliberately graduated: under subsection (d), a police officer may not cite or arrest a parent or guardian for a first violation, only after that parent or guardian has received at least two prior written warnings within the same calendar year, and the same two-warning threshold applies before an establishment's owner, operator or employee can be cited. The section derives from Code 1997 § 16-117, carried forward by Ord. No. 4007 on January 12, 2009.