Palatine, IL Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

Section 22-174 sits at the start of chapter 22's Article VI, 'Offenses Involving Underage Persons,' and applies to any 'public assembly, building, place, street or highway' inside the Village of Palatine. A minor under 17 must not be present there between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday nights, and between 12:01 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. on both the night into Saturday and the night into Sunday, unless accompanied and supervised by a parent, legal guardian or an adult companion of at least 18 who the parent or guardian has approved, or unless the minor is engaged in a job or occupation state law lets someone under 17 perform.

Subsection (b) reaches beyond the minor: it separately makes it unlawful for a parent, guardian or other person to knowingly permit someone in their custody to break curfew, so a parent can be cited even without being present. Subsection (c) classifies any conviction as a petty offense fined as established by village ordinance or resolution, the same fine-setting mechanism the Village Council uses across chapter 22 rather than printing a dollar figure into the curfew section itself. The section traces to Code 1976 § 12-27 and carries no listed amendment since that original codification, unlike its neighbors: § 22-175 (truancy) was last amended in 2024 and caps a truant minor's fine at the maximum the state authorizes, while § 22-176 (parental responsibility) makes a parent jointly liable for a minor's willful or malicious acts up to $1,000.

Palatine police officers who encounter an unaccompanied minor after curfew hours enforce § 22-174 directly rather than routing the stop through the truancy or parental-responsibility sections.