How old is the kid, where are they at, and what are they doing?

It’s pretty hard to prove how old kid is until they get a driver’s license, anyway. I think 9 p.m. is good for 12 and under, 10 p.m. is good for 13-16 unless at a school or youth function and under adult supervision. From 16 to 18– well, are they working until midnight at a bright,well-lit McDonalds on a non-school night, or are they cruising around with illegal alcohol until 1 a.m. committing random acts of vandalism? There is a difference.

I like the idea of a permissive curfew: if you are keeping your nose clean, talking with friends on the porch, being relatively quiet, and not being a problem, no one will hassle you. You start acting out in some way, and you get the curfew thrown at you. Isn’t that how it always has been?

I do think midnight is a good general curfew for everyone under 18 without an express productive reason to be out and about. We used to call it “pumpkin time.”

I think Teresa has an interesting idea about a “permissive curfew.” That way, if kids are just quietly hanging out with friends, no big deal. But if those kids sitting on the porch start getting loud and obnoxious, the police can be called and use the curfew law against the offenders. It’s like the “barking dog” law. The police aren’t going to cruise the neighborhood with the window down listening for barking dogs. But if someone calls with a complaint that the damned mutt next door hasn’t shut up for the past three hours, well, the cops have a tool to work with to get the owner of the offending dog to comply. Maybe curfew regulations could fall under that “nuisance law” category.

Then, again, maybe we do need a strict curfew. Plain fact of the matter is that there are a lot of kids who have essentially no parental supervision. They are the ones most likely to be in violation of a curfew and also the ones most likely to get into trouble. It’s sad that a law has to be passed to deal with the situation, but someone has to play “parent” to these kids. God knows the real parents have abdicated all responsibility.

For my kid, it is what I say it is.

Government imposed curfew is like overzealous gun control laws that penalize the innocent and responsible along with the guilty and irresponsible.
Curfew as a tool for the juvenile justice system to deal with problem individuals would honor parents rights and avoid the prior restraint issue for well behaved youths.

I live in St. Charles County, I thought curfew laws were already in place here. 20 years ago, I was 15, my friend, 16 were at a pool hall on Main St in St. Charles. She lived close by, we left on Friday night around 12:00am to walk home, thinking it was only about 10:30 or 11pm. A cop stopped us and asked what we were doing, we said nothing walking home. He asked our ages and then told us to get in the car. She lived like 2 blocks away. He told us we were out past the curfew. We said “Huh?”. It’s only like 10:30 we said, no it’s past midnight. Our first thought was Oh S**t, we are late we are in trouble. Stupid us thought the cop was going to give us a ride home, nope we went to the police station. They had us crying, telling us we would be in juvenile jail until we were 17, the judge is going to throw the book at us. We were scared. Only to get a letter from the courts saying they will leave it up to the parents to decide punishment. Those cops were just using us as a source of entertainment. But really we were doing nothing wrong, I think he took us in because we were girls and it was late, more of a safety issue. If he had drove away and then something happen to us, that kind of thinking. I think curfew laws can be helpful, parents can say “Hey it’s the law, not me saying you have to be home at a certain time.” Kids shouldn’t be able to freely roam the streets without good reason, for their safety. Did I learn a valuable lesson? Yes, cops can be jerks, use you as entertainment because it’s a slow shift.

As a teacher for many years, I realized that kids these days have know where to go that they are not harassed by someone. Kids are different than adults. They always have been. When we were kids we hung out at Steak N Shake and Chuck A Burger and other places being left alone as long as you were not causing problems. I think that one of the differences are that there were no threats of weapons in those days. Today’s teenagers pose a threat to some with the constant violence that we see and read about everyday. It’s harder everyday to judge good kids from bad.

I view curfew as being about as effective as gun laws. If you want to break the law, you will. You will never stop criminals from obtaining pistols. In the same token, you will never stop kids from running around at night looking to get in trouble. Good citizens should be able to own firearms. Good teenagers should be able to stay out at night until a reasonable hour without being harassed. Fact is, you can’t keep people out of trouble that have a passion for getting into it. Judge each incident as they happen. It’s the only way to be fair to the good kids.

To Tina M of St. Charles:

The cop you think as a “JERK”, was thinking of your safety. It is a violation of the law for a person under the age of 16 to be out past midnight in City of St. Chares Missouri.

You had no idea the dangers a young girl could face while walking home at that hour in the part of town 20 years ago. Even if it was only a couple of blocks.

How do I know you might ask? I know because I have been a police officer in St. Charles for over 30 years. He most likely knew the kids all thought the juvenile court is a joke, so maybe a little fear might help save you from something that you might not like.

I remember working cases of girls being raped and boys being assaulted by drunks and perverts. There used to be a large amount of bars and taverns along N. Main and S. Second streets. There still are a lot of bars on N. Main and they can get pretty wild at night. There is no reason to be out past the curfew if you are 16 or younger. You are either looking for trouble or trouble will find you.

I ask you this question. Do you want your child out past curfew where they could be hurt or maybe something worse?

PS

We have plenty of other people to keep us entertained, not teenage girls.

Steve - If what Tina M said was true, that cop was being a jerk. There are bigger things going on, and there were 20 years ago too, in which he could have had his say and moved along or followed the girls home. Not a big deal until he made it one. AND she did reference a safety issue. Lighten up, will you?

I have no opinion on how other people should bring up their kids. But I wish I would quit getting the implied responsibility for everyone’s kids. Every “vice” law and even the megan meier case keeps placing responsibility on everyone for everyone else’s kids. Their either your responsibility or the nanny government’s…make up your minds and let me enjoy the smut and questionable substances I enjoy without harming others.

Steve, sorry to have offended you. The cop that took us in was not the same cops we dealt with at the station. They had us thinking we were going to jail for a curfew violation. We were bawling our eyes out, I had never been in any trouble before this. But I did form an opinion about cops because of that incident. No disrespect.

I agree kids should be in at 10 pm on weeknights. Especially if they have school. Police officers could enforce it the same way they did they 11 pm curfew. I can recall as a teenager breaking curfew a lot of times, and always when I was up to no good.

I live in the Loop and I love it. I greatly appreciate the diversity of ages and cultures that flock to this area.

Because I am a resident, I am a big supporter of this curfew! I am so excited that the city decided to take a new direction with this problem. Recently, we saw an increase in the young population hanging out in the Loop. I thought nothing of it until I started hearing kids scream at each other in restaurants, pushing each other into people (me) on the sidewalk, and generally harassing area businesses and their patrons. My concern grew to fear when some of these kids attacked a few groups of innocent bystanders at our Metro Link, beat up the same restaurant employee twice, and mugged a few people. The city stepped in and we saw immediate improvement.

Not all of these kids are bad kids, but some of them certainly are not good. I am concerned for the safety of these kids, and even more concerned about the safety of the remaining population. Unfortunately, I have little faith in the parents that are raising these kids. They obviously have no idea what their kids are doing. If they do, then I have no faith in them at all. If parents will not take care of their own kids, then we have to step in and take action to keep everyone safe.

For the youth that feel this is unfair, I am sorry. Under the age of 18, or even 21, you have no business in the Loop past 10 p.m. This leaves plenty of opportunity for you to come and enjoy what this neighborhood has to offer.

Whew, where are our priorities. Kids being out at all hours, are not what’s wrong with this country A reasonable first priority would be for us to set a curfew for politicians. I think 6:00 pm would be good,and prohibit the use of a phone after that time. If they continue to take bribes, commit other crimes, and be totally irrational the curfew can be moved to 4 pm, unless accompanied by a teen.

Our problem is the economy that was perpetrated by politicians, not teens. Get your priorities straight, Put curfews on politicians, then work our way down the teens if any need to be put on a curfew. Maybe seeing the politicians being derived of bribes, or other bennies, will be enough for the teens to not need a curfew.

PRIORITIZE11111

We had the same curfew for all our kids when they were teens. They had to be in by 10:30P.M. on school nights and midnight on weekends. We always told them that if they couldn’t get done what needed to be done by those hours than tough. We were lenient on special occasions but other than that we didn’t budge. Sure they sqwaked back then but now that they are young adults it makes for a good laugh when they reminisce about their years growing up. My daughter now admits that it was great when she needed a way to end a crummy date or to leave a boring party. She would just blame her lame parents for whatever and we were happy to supply her with that safety net.

Very well stated, Gina.

Addressing Tina’s comment: “Hey it’s the law, not me saying you have to be home at a certain time.” If more mothers and fathers were less concerned with being their child’s friend and more concerned with being the parent, we’d have more productive, contributing members of society and fewer whiners, slackers, and kids who think they are above any rules or authority.

I agree with JJK. No one should tell parents what time their kids should be home, especially not the government. Do we live in China now??? What’s going on with the goverment wanting to micromanage our lives???

As a child, I always had a curfew, but it really changed depending on the situation. For example, a 10pm curfew on school nights was routinely broken twice a week. Why? Because I had basketball games twice a week which would almost always ensure I was out until 10:30-11pm many times.

Special events I always had permission to stay out well past my normal curfew (and the cops in my small town wouldn’t enforce curfew then either).

For MY kids it will be about the same.. special events they get some leeway, otherwise they need to earn a later curfew by showing a good reason, responsibility, etc.. As my father always said, there is nothing to do after midnight except get in trouble! Its always going to be a situational thing and should be treated as such.

Curfews should be for parents and legal guardians to decide- not the government or law enforcement. Police do not have the time to track down reckless, poorly supervised kids when they have more serious things to worry about. Guardians needs to do their jobs.

I think any child under 16 should be carefully monitored by guardians. The guardian should know where the kid is at all times, require the child to check in via phone, and have a curfew of no later than 10pm or so. This of course all depends on what the kid is doing- just hanging out at a friend’s house or are they going to a concert downtown that lets out at 10 or 11 with a group of friends?

Kids 16 and older are working most likely, and if they’re not employed somewhere, guardians should teach them responsibility and work ethic by requiring them to work part-time somewhere close to home if possible. I think a kid working hard, and doing the best they can in school deserves a later curfew to midnight or so, especially if they work somewhere later than that. They should still check in with their guardians via phone when they get off of work or when they have a change of venue during their plans at night.

This all depends on the common sense of the guardian and the personality and lifestyle of the child in question… there is no black & white answer here…

I also believe it should be up to the parents.I have a son who has a few friends that are under 17 and they were here watching a movie and my son took them home and a police lady who likes to harass these kids pulled him over and told him that if she saw him with my son after curfew again she would arrest my son for endangering the welfare of a minor. The other kids parents knew they were here and were ok with it….

What do we do when parents are not taking care of their own kids? I am so happy to see that so many of you take care of your kids, but not everyone is like you. Some of these kids have no supervision or direction.

I agree, it starts somewhere else - in our community - we need programs and resources…not just law enforcement. In the meantime, what can we do to protect these kids from themselves, and us?

I agree that those people who engage in risky behavior should pay a price. If you eat meat your insurance should be higher, the hospital should charge you more etc.

People engage in risky behaviors. Smoking, drinking, meat eating, living in cities, riding bicylces on city streets. If you want to start punishing people for risky behavior, start with these.

The reason there is no helmet law in IL because there is NO compelling public safety issue. IL courts decided that public benefits don’t out-weigh the individual’s freedom. That sounds like alot like the balances that founded this country.

Dear JP,
Are you a parent? No parent can know where any kid is 24/7, not even if they are in the house. Check in constantly by phone? Do all kids have phones these days? My nevvy (now in their teens) didn’t even *get* phones until they were 14. Heck I didn’t get a cell phone until 3 years ago, and I kept track of my husband just fine without one. My sister (who has the kids) is happy to let them roam within reason as long as she has a general clue.
I am ever so glad my mom didn’t have to know where I was ever waking moment of the day. It would have driven both of us mad. Now, we did have to tell them where we were going, with whom, and we had a agreed on return time most of the time, but kids are kids– not criminals with ankle bracelets. And no, I don’t buy the argument that things are so much worse today. Different, worse in some places, better in others. But I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a bunch of kids together, even today, being picked up by miscreants. More than one or two is too much trouble.

What would this mean for concert-going youths on weeknights? If a teenager’s favorite band comes to one of the many venues accpeting youth (ie. Cicero’s and The Pageant) in the Loop he/she has every right to attend.

I grew up in southern California and graduated from high school at 16 and started college at 17 (unfortunately I looked about 14). Kids under 18 had a curfew of 10:00 every night and it was strictly enforced. You can’t imagine how frustrating it was to get sent home when I was out with my college friends, just “hanging out” because I wasn’t yet 18. We had a big party to celebrate when I finally turned 18.

I am a single mother of two boys, ages 14 and 11. I set curfews for the both of them, on school nights they have to be in by 8pm and on the weekends and summer by 10:00 pm. If you are under the age of 17 10:00 pm on school nights is too late and weekends midnight is also too late. That is why kids are getting in so much trouble now, they are children and have no reason to be out so late. There are too many preditors out there that prey on kids at night. I think that curfews need to be enforced by the police and if the children are out past curfew the parents should be held responsible for their childrens actions, for allowing them to be out so late.

Steve, chill out. I think you blew her comments way out of proportion. Tina proved a valid point. Cops can be jerks. In fact, several cops get on power trips. Many cops let their badge get to their head. Instead of automatically treating people like criminals, know their record. If they do not have one, leave them alone. By reading Tina’s story, it was an honest mistake and the cop did not need to be a jerk. I respect cops and what they do, as long as they are not cocky.

Tina, I agree with you, and I too believe cops use some people for entertainment.

The right curfew is the one set by the parents. This nanny state crap is getting to the point of lunacy. Are we going to have the right to decide anything for our children in the coming years? Or will the ‘State’ do all of the thinking for us since we don’t know what our kids need to survive and thrive.

People are becoming soft and complacent by allowing the government to “take care” of everything for us. America is headed into the toilet bowl if people don’t wake the f**k up!

What happened to “if it is to be, it’s up to me”? I guess it has changed to “if it is to be, it’s up to the government to hold my hand and tell me what I need to do” - doesn’t quite have the same effect, does it…