Jacksonville Beach, FL Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

Section 16-52 applies to any person sixteen (16) or less of age, which the code restates as under seventeen (17). Section 16-51 defines a juvenile or minor as an unemancipated person under the age of seventeen (17). The curfew covers any public place within the City of Jacksonville Beach, and the definition of public place reaches streets, sidewalks, parking lots, parks, playgrounds, shopping centers, theaters, restaurants, taverns, cafes and arcades. The word remain includes congregating in groups totaling four (4) or more persons and failing to leave an establishment when a police officer or the operator asks. Time of night follows the prevailing standard of time, Eastern Standard or Eastern Daylight Savings Time, observed in the city.

Section 16-53 lists the exceptions. A juvenile is exempt when accompanied by a parent, or by an adult a parent has authorized to take the parent's place for a designated period of time and purpose within a specified area; when exercising First Amendment rights after delivering a signed written communication to the person the chief of police designates; when on the sidewalk or property where the juvenile resides with the adult owner's permission; when returning home by a direct route within one hour of the end of a school activity, a religious or voluntary association activity, or a place of public entertainment; when carrying a special permit from the chief of police; when legally employed and carrying a certified card of employment; when in normal interstate travel with parental consent; or when married. A sponsor of a non-commercial event, or one with no fixed publicly known end time, must register it with the chief of police at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance.

Under § 16-56, a police officer must ask the apparent juvenile's age and reason for being in the public place before acting. On a first violation the officer issues a written warning and orders the juvenile to go promptly home, and the chief of police sends the parent or guardian notice by certified mail. After one previous written warning, or when an officer has reasonable grounds to believe the juvenile engaged in delinquent conduct, the juvenile is taken to the police station and a parent or guardian is called to come for the juvenile.