La Habra, CA Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

La Habra Municipal Code Chapter 9.28, Nighttime Curfew for Minors, was adopted in 1997 (Ord. 1519) under the city's police power to address juvenile gang activity and juvenile crime. Section 9.28.020 defines curfew hours as ten p.m. any evening of the week until six a.m. the following day, and defines minor as any person under eighteen. Section 9.28.030 makes it unlawful for a minor to remain in any public place or on the premises of an establishment within the city during those hours, unlawful for a parent or guardian to knowingly permit or, by insufficient control, allow it, and unlawful for an establishment's owner, operator or employee to knowingly allow a minor to remain on the premises.

Section 9.28.040 lists defenses: the minor was accompanied by a parent, guardian or responsible adult; running an errand for a parent without detour; traveling interstate; working or commuting to or from a job without detour; responding to an emergency; standing on the sidewalk abutting the minor's own residence; attending a supervised school, religious or city-sponsored activity; exercising First Amendment rights; or emancipated by law. An establishment has an added defense under Section 9.28.040(B) if it promptly notified the La Habra Police Department that a minor refused to leave after being asked.

Section 9.28.050 requires an officer to ask the apparent offender's age and reason for being out before citing or arresting. Section 9.28.060 makes a minor's violation a misdemeanor handled under juvenile court law, while a parent, guardian, owner, operator or employee is guilty of an infraction. A separate Daytime Curfew, Chapter 9.30, bars school-age minors six to eighteen from public places between eight a.m. and two-thirty p.m. on school days.