Miami Curfew Forces Teens Off Streets from 11pm - 6am in Wake of Deadly Shootings, Pushed to 12am on Weekends

In the wake of several deadly shootings, Miami residents under the age of 17 will not be allowed outside between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m, Monday-Thursday. Friday through sunday the curfew kicks in at 12.

The Miami Police insist that the curfew is not in response to a wave of shootings that have left two teenagers dead and more injured.

"It's normally done when kids are out of school, and we've done it before ... usually during the summer months," Miami Police Department spokesman Willie Moreno said in a statement. "That's when kids tend to stay out later and later."

Locals, however, aren;t convinced of the authority's motives.

I don't really need a curfew,' Miami teen Keith Steart told NBC Miami, 'but I do feel that a curfew is important because young kids like my age are dying in the streets.'

The curfew isn't a hard and fast one. There are a few exceptions to the rule. Teens expressing thier first amendment rights, i.e. protesting are allowed to be out. Those under 16 are also allowed out in the company of the parents, with written consent of their parents, or when they are traveling to work or school.

Even with the crackdown, there are those that feel the rules don't do enough to stem crime in the city.

"You don't know what's going on," Pete Soriano told The Miami Herald. "You've got drug dealings; you've got shoot outs, kids getting killed left and right."