DALLAS, Texas - March 26, 2009 - This city is considering joining a rising number of others across the country that are imposing criminal penalties on children who skip school to hang out at the mall or on local street corners.

Such juvenile daytime curfews to combat truancy and crime are drawing protests from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and from the parents of homeschooled children who, along with some parents of public-school students, object on grounds that such laws in effect criminalize otherwise law-abiding children who may have good reasons for not being in school.

Daytime-curfew laws have long been popular in a handful of states, including Kalifornia and Ohio, and opponents say that they are becoming increasingly common. Benicia, Kalifornia, near San Francisco, began enforcing a curfew in January, and Kennesaw, Georgia, north of Atlanta, enacted one earlier this month. Bedford, Texas, near Fort Worth, adopted a curfew last year, and the city council in Philadelphia is set to vote on one Thursday.

In Dallas, the city council will vote next month on extending an existing nighttime curfew for minors to make it broadly illegal for minors under 17 years old to appear in public without adult supervision during school hours. Violators would be subject to a fine of up to $500. Parents and businesses that let minors congregate on their premises during school hours also would be subject to a fine of up to $500.

Elba Garcia, a dentist who serves as chairman of the council's public-safety committee, said the ban will help the police combat crimes that are "associated with truancy," especially daylight burglaries and car break-ins.

While juveniles account for only 6% of arrests in Dallas, they represent 22% of the 868 people arrested for burglary in 2008, said Lt. Robert Hinton of the Dallas Police Department, and more than half were picked up during school hours.

The law currently allows police to pick up truants, he said, but all officers can do is take them to a nearby school. If the curfew is extended, the police still plan to return truants to schools, but they say the added clout of a fine will help them combat the problem.

The Dallas school district, which enrolls about 158,000 students, handled 21,800 truancy cases last year, said Martha Hawkins, supervisor of attendance improvement. But sanctions for tardiness or absenteeism tend to be very weak, she said, with about as much punch as a traffic ticket.