Mississippi
Jackson, MS, Wants Curfew Centers to Cut Crime. Here’s What Others Did.
After a 17-year-old was charged with the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Eugene Kelly in Jackson, Mississippi’s first murder of 2024, one council member made a familiar demand: Impose a nighttime youth curfew to “stop these kids from becoming killers.”
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba then offered an even stronger response: The city should create “youth engagement centers” to keep children off the streets after dark.
Curfews have been imposed and abandoned numerous times in Jackson over the decades. Lumumba invoked the last temporary curfew in 2021, following a surge in violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The planned youth centers, he said, will get “to the root cause of why that young person may be on the street,” instead of “detaining them and becoming part of the problem.”
Other U.S. cities have enacted curfews and set up youth centers, with mixed results. National studies have shown that curfews usually don’t stop violent crime. The Marshall Project – Jackson examined the practices of youth centers in Baltimore and Philadelphia. A summary of the findings is below.
In Jackson, city officials believe the engagement centers would become a safe space to keep kids away from potentially dangerous situations. The children would have to agree to be taken to the centers or go home; police cannot force kids on the street to attend after the curfew.
The city’s curfew ordinance, which passed the city council unanimously in January, said youth cannot be out past 10 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. The ordinance expires in January 2025. However, Hinds County Youth Court Judge Carlyn Hicks deemed it unenforceable, as youth cannot be arrested for violating the curfew because adults cannot be charged under the same law. Youth between the ages of 10 and 19 make up 14%, or around 20,000, of the city’s 146,000 residents, according to the U.S. census.
Fighting youth crime is a political cry often used by elected officials, law enforcement and city leaders across the nation. Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who pleaded to stop kids from becoming killers at a January council meeting, has been demanding curfews since as early as 1991.
Jackson’s budding plan for centers, however, faces a challenge in winning the trust of young people, who are already skeptical of police and feel that they are villainized in conversations that don’t include them, youth advocates say.
Gus Daniels-Washington said young people often face outsized blame for crime while not enough is done to fix what pushes youth to violence. Daniels-Washington is the founder of JXNOLOGY, a nonprofit, youth-led arts and advocacy community in the city.
“It really just takes the responsibility off of our community leaders, because who is teaching these young people?” Daniels-Washington said of a curfew. “It’s not like there’s a class in murder.”
In their first public meeting of the summer on June 27, the city police’s precinct captains presented crime statistics that showed more theft and more 911 calls than from the previous week. Police Chief Joseph Wade attributed the rise in crime to youths.
“We know what the issues are,” Wade said. Kids are out of school, “and some of them are finding something productive to do, like stealing your stuff.”
Violent crime committed by and against young people has been a long-term concern in the city. Less than a month into the summer, 18-year-old Daivion Myles was killed in a drive-by shooting. Four teenagers, including a 13-year-old girl, were charged with his murder.
However, according to police records obtained by The Marshall Project – Jackson from the first half of the year, the majority of people arrested for violent crimes were adults. Though the city shares poignant examples of youth violence, it provides no evidence to the public that youth violence is actually on the rise. The police department does not report data to the FBI system that tracks crime data nationwide. Nationally, youth only accounted for 7% of arrests for violent crimes in 2020, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
According to Judge Hicks, about 20% of the youth court docket in 2023 involved “juvenile delinquency,” or youth crimes. The remaining almost 80% of cases involved child welfare, including abuse or neglect. At a juvenile justice forum held on April 27, Hicks said that while news stories portray rampant crime among young people that captures the public’s attention, “the true underbelly of concern in Hinds County,” is that many of the children are vulnerable to abuse and neglect.
Darius Nelson, a 26-year-old organizer with the youth group JXNOLOGY, and several other young adults interviewed said they felt isolated, unheard and overpoliced. Nelson uses they/them pronouns. Young people in Jackson are tired of being “the big, bad, boogeyman,” they said. “That’s followed me all my life.”
Keisha Coleman, director of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, said she is designing the youth engagement centers with multiple factors in mind. Children living in the city are dealing with trauma, poverty and a criminal justice system that has been historically unfair, she said. Many are growing up in neighborhoods that haven’t seen new investments of resources in decades. Although the centers were supposed to be open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the plans were pulled from the city council’s agenda ahead of its July 2 meeting. No budget has been presented, and the city has given no reason for the delay.
JXNOLOGY gathered teenagers and young adults ahead of a May council meeting to speak on their concerns about what they called “curfew centers” and hoisted signs for the council members and the public to see. One read, “Y’all couldn’t come up with something that actually works?” Another asked if they would curfew adults.
The Marshall Project – Jackson looked at what worked and what didn’t for similar youth programs in other U.S. cities. Leaders in Baltimore and Philadelphia offered the following suggestions as Jackson plans for its youth centers:
1. Curfews and curfew centers are not standalone solutions for youth violence.
Across the country, curfew ordinances have come and gone with crime waves throughout history. It’s an often repeated cycle. When a handful of violent crimes or a single high-profile crime catches the city’s attention, leaders often impose curfews.
However, academic research shows that curfews do not impact crime rates. Coleman said that violence among youth between the ages of 12 and 24 in Jackson happens mostly between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., before nighttime curfews usually start, which aligns with national findings from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Still, generations of Jacksonians have lived under curfew ordinances. Jackson Police Captain Christian Vance remembers growing up with a curfew in Jackson. While he said the curfew did not affect him, “as a kid who lived within boundaries,” he believes that limiting the hours a youth can be outside is useful. It’s not a magic elixir, he said, but a curfew does give police the opportunity to find kids who need help. Vance runs the department’s youth programs, including the summer Youth Citizens Academy and Police Athletic League.
While curfew centers add another layer to the strategy, they are also not enough.
In Baltimore, for example, no young people went to that city’s engagement centers during the first three weeks of this summer’s curfew. Last year, the city had “less than a handful” of young people come in, according to Shantay Jackson, former director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, who developed the centers.
Low attendance is common across cities with similar programs. Instead of going to the centers, teens may opt to go home or, in Baltimore, attend other city-sponsored events. Jackson said she views the summer strategy as a success despite low attendance at the centers. Baltimore’s officials touted an 83% decrease in youth homicides from Memorial Day to Labor Day in 2023, though there is no firm evidence that the curfew efforts caused the drop. Murders decreased significantly across the nation in 2023, according to FBI data.
Similarly, of the more than 1,000 youth who attended a Philadelphia community evening resource center from the start of the curfew in July 2022 to November 2023, about nine out of 10 children were walk-ins who participated in the centers’ programs, which included driver’s ed classes, boxing, music production and culinary classes.
The key to success, leaders in both cities said, was assessing each child’s needs and offering them something interesting to do. Children are not inherently violent. Angelic Bradley, who runs one of Philadelphia’s six centers, said kids often violate curfew out of boredom. In other cases, they may be trying to escape abuse or other unsafe situations at home.
2. Police shouldn’t be heavily involved.
Although Jackson police officer Vance and others said they want to help children stay safe, young people interviewed said they fear more police encounters could open doors for harassment, violence and over-policing. Some say they have had violent encounters with police. Others have watched widely shared videos of police killing young people like 15-year-old Ryan Gainer in California and shooting 11-year-old Aderrien Murray in Indianola, Mississippi.
If police lead the engagement center efforts, “it’ll be questioning, it’ll be harassment, and just making young people feel like they don’t have a space where they can go and feel safe,” said 25-year-old Eboneé Beard of Jackson. Beard is part of the Youth Action Initiative, a group that hosted a forum for young people to share their issues and brainstorm solutions.
In Baltimore, Shantay Jackson said it’s important to consider how Black communities have been over-policed for decades and not criminalize young people for just wanting to have fun.
Instead of police cars with flashing lights, the city used a bus with youth ambassadors and social workers to disperse kids hanging out after curfew. In Baltimore and Philadelphia, the centers were staffed with social workers, mentors and trained young adult ambassadors. Bradley’s center has one armed security guard, but no police officers present.
3. Kids need a stake in creating their own safe spaces.
When creating a space with young people in mind, it is important to involve youths in the planning, leaders in all three cities and young adults said.
“If we trust the young people to make informed decisions about their future, I think that we would see that young people are able to articulate their issues, and they’re also able to articulate solutions,” said Nelson of Jackson’s JXNOLOGY. They believe kids should be given not only a say-so, but the resources to create their own solutions.
Jackson, of Baltimore, said her team met with hundreds of youth to learn what they wanted. The results, in addition to the connection centers, were social events like pool parties, concerts and rollerskating.
4. Food and simple offerings go a long way.
In Baltimore and Philadelphia, the centers provided hot meals. At one center in Baltimore, which saw only two kids last summer, both asked for food. In Philadelphia, Bradley offers information about housing programs and grant applications that she helps families fill out. Her center also provides transportation for kids wanting to participate in their programs.
In Jackson, both Coleman and Daniels-Washington agreed that young people have basic safety needs that must be addressed.
Coleman said the city cannot continue to try and “arrest away” youth violence.
Daniels-Washington said if the city does not listen to its youth, “Jackson will become a dying city.”
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Josh Hubbard, the dynamic 5-foot-11 guard from Madison-Ridgeland Academy, officially announced on Wednesday that he will return to Mississippi State.
Bulldogs’ fans have been waiting for the news. It ended speculation about his professional future and providing clarity to the Mississippi State’ roster. He didn’t run it to the end with the last day to decide May 28.
The move, while widely anticipated, is a significant boost for coach Chris Jans and a Bulldogs’ team that is navigating a busy offseason of roster changes.
Hubbard’s sophomore campaign was nothing short of historic.
He led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18.1 points per game, starting all 34 contests and ranking among the SEC’s top 15 in seven statistical categories. His impact was felt across the board:
• 3rd in the SEC in points per game
• 2nd in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.49)
• 2nd in three-pointers made per game (3.18)
• 4th in free throw percentage (87.8%)
• 7th in three-point percentage (34.5%)
• 15th in assists (3.15) and field goal percentage (40.2%)
Hubbard’s free throw percentage set a new school record, and he became the first player in Mississippi State history to record at least 600 points and 100 assists in a single season.
He also captured the 2025 Bailey Howell Award, given to Mississippi’s top college basketball player, becoming the first freshman to win the honor since its inception in 2004-05.
In just two seasons, Hubbard has amassed 1,240 points, 168 assists and 55 steals. His combined freshman-sophomore point total is the highest in the SEC since 2000 and ranks fourth all-time in conference history.
As a freshman, Hubbard set school records for three-pointers made (108) and points scored (598), while averaging 17.1 points per game.
Hubbard’s decision to return was rooted in his commitment to the Bulldogs and his belief in the program’s direction.
“I’m blessed to be a Mississippi State Bulldog. I’m blessed to play for one of the best coaches in the country in Chris Jans,” Hubbard said. “I’m blessed to have another opportunity to represent my home state on a national stage. It’s special.”
His leadership will be crucial as Mississippi State navigates a changing roster.
The Bulldogs have seen several players transfer out, including Kanye Clary (Oklahoma State), Michael Nwoko (LSU), and KeShawn Murphy (Auburn), but have also added experienced transfers like Ja’Borri McGhee (UAB) and Jayden Epps (Georgetown).
With Hubbard back in the fold, Mississippi State is poised to remain competitive in the SEC.
His scoring ability, playmaking, and experience will anchor a team looking to build on last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth-place SEC finish (21-13 overall).
National analysts believe Hubbard’s return gives him a legitimate shot at All-American honors next season, especially as he continues to develop under Coach Jans.
While he tested the NBA Draft waters, Hubbard was not listed on ESPN’s top 100 prospects, making his return to Starkville a logical step for further growth and exposure.
The ‘rebel flag’ wasn’t real banner of the Confederate states
As Walmart lowers Mississippi’s state flag from storefronts, learn why the infamous “rebel flag” isn’t even historically accurate.
STAFF VIDEO, USA TODAY
- Mississippi observes Jefferson Davis’ birthday, combined with Memorial Day, as a state holiday.
- This combined holiday is one of three Confederate holidays observed in Mississippi.
- While other states have holidays honoring Davis, Mississippi is the only one to combine it with Memorial Day.
- There have been unsuccessful attempts to remove Confederate holidays from the Mississippi state calendar.
Mississippi will honor Confederate President Jefferson Davis this three-day weekend.
The state isn’t the only one to honor him with a state holiday or local celebration, but it is the only one to combine it with Memorial Day.
It’s the third of three Confederate holidays on the state calendar, starting with a celebration of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King Jr. in February and Confederate Memorial Day in April.
Here’s what you need to know about when and why Mississippi celebrates Confederate holidays and what other states still honor them.
Why does Mississippi celebrate Jefferson Davis?
Davis was born in Kentucky on June 3, 1808, but Mississippi pairs it with Memorial Day on the last Monday in May. The president of the Confederacy spent most of his life in the Magnolia State and served it in both houses of the U.S. Congress.
The Davis family moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1812. In 1824, he graduated from West Point, the U.S. Military Academy and served in the U.S. Army, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Davis settled near family near Vicksburg, planted cotton and owned slaves in Warren County.
In 1845, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and resigned in less than a year to fight with the Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War. In 1847, he was wounded and later was appointed to fill a seat in the U.S. Senate.
In 1851, he resigned to run for governor of Mississippi but did not win. He campaigned for Franklin Pierce and served as the president’s secretary of war.
He was re-elected to the Senate in 1857.
He resigned and announced Mississippi was seceding from the Union four years later.
By October of 1861, he was president of the Confederate States of America.
After Lee surrendered, Davis and his family ran but were later captured. He was held on treason charges for two years. The federal government dropped charges against him in 1869.
By 1877, he moved to Beauvoir in Biloxi and died in New Orleans in 1889.
The Biloxi building now serves as a presidential library. It’s open daily and offers tours. The organization that maintains it will celebrate his 217th birthday on Saturday, May 31, with a showing of Shirley Temple’s “The Littlest Rebel” and a Mississippi Rifles Honor Salute. Admission is $15 per person, and movie tickets cost another $2.
Alabama also has a state holiday for Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the first Monday in June. In Florida, it’s a local observance, according to timeanddate.com, but not an official state holiday that offices and schools or businesses would close for.
Does anyone want Mississippi to drop Confederate holidays from the state calendar?
Yes. There were multiple bills to remove Lee’s birthday and Confederate Memorial Day from the state calendar in the most recent regular session of the Mississippi Legislature.
None were successful.
Mississippi still honors Robert E. Lee on MLK Day
Two U.S. states honor Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the federal holiday for Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is always scheduled to take place on the third Monday in January. President Ronald Regan signed the bill creating the holiday into federal law in 1983. It was first observed in 1986.
King was born on Jan. 15, 1929.
When the federal holiday was adopted in the 1980s, Mississippi and Alabama lawmakers opted to add it to an existing holiday honoring Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Many states in the South initially adopted this approach. Most, including Lee’s home state of Virginia, have since dropped celebrating Lee, who was born on Jan. 19, 1807.
Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day
Mississippi celebrated Confederate Memorial Day on Monday, April 28 this year. Only four states still honor the Civil War dead with a day off for public workers, though others still treat it as a holiday.
The Magnolia State takes it a step further and celebrates April as Confederate Heritage Month.
Confederate Memorial Day was created in Georgia on April 26, 1866. It honored the deaths of Confederate soldiers on the first anniversary of the day that Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union Gen. William Sherman at Bennett Place, North Carolina.
Many in the Confederacy felt that negotiation marked the end of the Civil War. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant two weeks earlier at Appomattox Court House, but Johnston stayed in the field with almost 90,000 soldiers.
The holiday spread to the other Confederate states. Some changed their celebration dates to something more locally significant.
In Alabama and Florida, it’s on the fourth Monday in April. Alabama treats it as an official holiday.
Texas celebrates it as a state holiday on Jan. 19.
North and South Carolina celebrate on May 10, but state offices close only in South Carolina.
June 3 is when Kentucky and Tennessee honor the dead from the Civil War, and Tennessee calls it Confederate Decoration Day.
Does Mississippi celebrate Juneteenth as a state holiday?
No. Mississippi does not honor Juneteenth, though it is a federal holiday.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that honors June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas were set free. The order for the state came about two and a half years after the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.
Civil War reenactors teach living history in Mississippi
When are Mississippi state holidays in 2025?
Many state holidays in Mississippi sync up with federal holidays, but not all of them, according to the list from the Department of Finance and Administration.
- Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day.
- Monday, Jan. 20: Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee.
- Monday, Feb. 17: Washington’s Birthday.
- Monday, April 28: Confederate Memorial Day.
- Monday, May 26: National Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis’ birthday.
- Friday, July 4: Independence Day.
- Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day.
- Tuesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day or Armistice Day.
- Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day.
- Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day.
2025 US federal holiday schedule
Here are the federal holidays in 2025, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management:
- Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day.
- Monday, Jan. 20: Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and Inauguration Day.
- Monday, Feb. 17: Washington’s Birthday.
- Monday, May 26: Memorial Day.
- Thursday, June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day.
- Friday, July 4: Independence Day.
- Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day.
- Monday, Oct. 13: Columbus Day.
- Tuesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day.
- Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day.
- Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day.
Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with Gannett/USA Today. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.
The 2025 high school softball season in Mississippi has come to its end, and it was an exciting season from start to finish. The championship series’ delivered as promised, and it was a fitting end to the season that was. These 12 players that have been nominated for the final player of the week poll went above and beyond as they did everything they could to try and help their team close out the season with an exclamation point. As always, we ask you, the fans, to vote on who you think is the final High School on SI Mississippi softball player of the week for 2025.
Editor’s note: Our corresponding poll is intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. This poll is specifically for fans to vote on the players that have been nominated and in no way discredits any other player that may not be mentioned in our poll
Congratulations to last week’s winner: Abby Danis East Central
Voting will close on May 25 at 11:59 p.m.
Here are the nominations:
In the 10-3 and 10-6 losses to East Central, Eason still managed to have some productive at-bats. She finished with four hits, two home runs, three RBIs and three runs scored.
In the two wins in game one and game three in the Class 3A state championship, Dearman pitched a complete game in both as she helped her team secure the championship. In game one, she allowed three hits, zero runs and 10 strikeouts in eight innings. In game three, she allowed two hits, zero runs with 10 strikeouts.
In the wins over Lafayette, Danis finished with four hits, one home run, four RBIs and two runs scored as she helped the Hornets secure the Class 5A state championship.
In three games in the Class 1A state championship versus Myrtle, Holifield finished with five hits, two home runs, one double, five RBIs and four runs scored as the Red Devils claimed the championship.
In the 10-0 and 12-1 wins over Pisgah in the Class 2A state championship, Johnson went 3-for-5 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored.
In the 6-2 and 9-6 wins over Purvis in the Class 4A state championship, Owens finished with four hits, one double and one RBI. She also pitched 12.1 combined innings in the series. Owens allowed 13 hits, seven runs and struck out five batters.
Pipkins came up big from the plate in the Class 6A state championship that saw the Rebels emerge victorious in three games versus Neshoba Central. She finished the series with three hits, one home run, one double and four runs scored.
Slay is another member of the Rebels squad who had a successful showing from the plate in the 6A state championship series. She finished with five hits, one triple, five RBIs and three runs scored.
In the 8-3 and 9-0 wins over Hernando in the Class 7A state championship series, Smith finished with four hits, two doubles, two RBIs and five runs scored.
In the game two win over Hernando which secured the 7A state championship for the Cougars, Tubbs finished with three hits, two RBIs and one run scored.
In the wins over Myrtle, Townsend finished with three hits, two doubles, two RBIs, one stolen base and two runs scored.
In the 10-0 win over Pisgah, Cooper finished with two hits, one double, two RBIs and one run scored.
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