Posted on 11/19/2004 8:20:07 AM PST by JesseHousman
TALLAHASSEE -The state Supreme Court struck down two curfew laws in Southwest Florida, placing others in doubt.
A closely divided Florida Supreme Court struck down two juvenile-curfew laws in Southwest Florida on Thursday, jeopardizing similar ones throughout the state, including one in Miami-Dade County that served as a model for others statewide.
In the 4-3 opinion, the majority of justices said the laws in Tampa and neighboring Pinellas Park were too broad because they targeted minors who committed no other crime than being night owls, and because they criminally punished parents and even shop owners who condoned or couldn't control kids' curfew-breaking.
The 91-page opinion and its dissents concern a number of municipalities in Florida that passed juvenile curfew laws after Miami-Dade's ordinance survived a challenge at the appellate court level in the mid-1990s.
Key West, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale have laws similar to those in Miami-Dade, Tampa and Pinellas Park. All have slightly different language but seek the same thing: to keep minors off the streets after 11 p.m. or midnight. The other laws may stay on the books unless challenged.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued Miami-Dade in the mid-1990s and brought the lead suit in Pinellas Park, said the laws have a target: young minorities. Two of the three youths who challenged Pinellas Park's restrictions are black.
''There is a radical difference between the well-intentioned and high-sounding words of the ordinance and the way it ends up being enforced on a day-to-day basis -- which is typically against young black men,'' said Howard Simon, the ACLU's executive director in Florida.
In Fort Lauderdale, a law was passed in 1997 but wasn't really used at all, said city police Detective Chuck Sierra.
''It was basically abandoned,'' he said. ``What was problematic for us was where are we going to put them? We would be stuck baby-sitting the child until somebody relieved us.''
SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE
Miami-Dade County Attorney Robert Ginsburg noted the county's success defending the law, but said he would have to wade through Thursday's opinion before commenting. Ginsburg, the Miami-Dade state attorney's office and a Metro-Dade police spokesman declined to say whether the law has been effective or how often it is used.
Key West was a latecomer to the curfew-law craze, passing its ordinance in 2002 as the town gentrified and tried to tone down. But, as in Miami-Dade, police don't appear to use the law often. A spokesman for the Key West Police Department said officers use the ordinance as ''a tool'' to get kids off the streets and usually take them home or have parents pick them up at the police station.
Miami Beach City Attorney Murray Dubbin said the new ruling should have little effect on Miami Beach's enforcement of the county's curfew ordinance. He said the city's law, like the county's, was narrowly tailored and would survive a challenge because it provides civil -- not criminal -- penalties for repeat violators.
Tampa and Pinellas Park provided criminal penalties that ''are possibly the most troubling aspect,'' Justice Peggy A. Quince wrote in the majority opinion.
The justices also seemed troubled with the fact that, in Tampa's law, ''business operators who knowingly permit a juvenile to remain on business premises during curfew hours are also subject to the sanctions.'' Though Miami-Dade and some of the other cities have civil penalties, they still seek to penalize private businesses and parents involved in curfew violations.
POSSIBLE JAIL TIME
In Tampa and Pinellas Park, kids, shopkeepers and parents could be thrown in jail and fined for a first curfew violation. In Miami-Dade, a parent or shopkeeper could only be fined up to $500 starting with a third curfew violation. Kids could be taken to a holding facility.
Miami-Dade's law, passed at the insistence of former Commissioner James Burke in 1994, embodies the tone of alarm sounded in nearly every ordinance: It is ``a matter of fact that Miami-Dade County is facing a mounting crisis caused by increasing crime, including juvenile crime and delinquency which threatens peaceful citizens, residents, and visitors.''
But that determination might not cut it. The justices rapped Tampa's law because officials in that city didn't provide statistical data showing the need for it. Pinellas Park officials did provide the required data.
The lead lawyer in the case, Bruce Howie, said he was encouraged by the opinion. In his case, a white girl identified only as T.M. was cited by Pinellas Park police when she stepped beyond the curb of her friend's home, where she was staying overnight, to talk to some boys in a car at 1 a.m.
''She was there with her mother's permission. So this ordinance interfered with her mother's right as a parent giving consent to her child to stay over and her right to be in the street just talking to some boys,'' Howies said. ``Police have better things to concern themselves with.''
Herald staff writers Jennifer Babson, Nicole White and Samuel P. Nitze contributed to this report.
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© 2004 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.miami.com
Night owls my Hillary! These are hoods that need to be kept off the streets at night to keep the crime rate down!
WTF? Someone needs to take these robed jackasses and put them in a crowd of these "night owls" for a couple of nights. That'll change their tune right pronto.
Words from my grandmother which are absolute.
Maybe they're playing midnight basketball. (Another Klinton legacy.)
I think that this is a local issue that state judges need not to involve themselves in. If your town wants kids under 16 in a midnight, then thats the way it should be.
Good. Parents need to make that decision, not the state. I remember this crap from when I was a teenager. It teaches you to look at any authority as a threat. It teaches you to not trust or support law enforcement.
So why not curfews for adults too?
I don't know what version of the Bill of Rights you have, but mine doesn't come with a disclaimer that says "does not apply to those under 18 years of age".
Ban curfews, but enforce loitering laws.
(A little French lingo there to show I bear no prejudice against frogs.)
Of course being a Libertarian you would feel that way.
In today's society, practically half of America's parents (the ones who vote for DemocRATs and Libertarians) haven't got the sense God gave a cucumber. They're so busy procreating, slurping suds, sucking on a cigaret or mj, watching weeks of mindless crap on their tv that they haven't a clue as to where their little potential robbers and killers are hanging out.
Polite society needs protection against these little weasels until they're old enough to commit major crimes and get free room and board in the slammer.
I'll bet you were a dandy teen and look: you've grown up to hate law enforcement.
WELLS, J., dissents with an opinion, in which CANTERO, J., concurs. CANTERO, J., dissents with an opinion, in which WELLS and BELL, JJ., concur.
For the record, not that merit retention votes seem to have any effect.
Amen, KC.
"Nothing good occurs past midnight outside the home"
Your grandmother is dead-on! My grandfather was of the same opinion. On a late-night trip back from the emergency room when I was a kid, I asked a question, "Why are these people out so late?" Grandfather's reply: "I don't know but you cant bet that at this hour they are up to no good."
Just job security I suppose. That and if they tire themselves out during the night, they are not likely to have a full tank of mischief during the daytime when the justices and other enlightened public are at risk.
A few years ago I had occasion to be downtown in a major Ohio city, after 11:00 PM and saw these "night owls" hustling older citizens at a bus stop. Before I could intervene a policeman did.
The papers are full of police blotter stories about what these juvenile "owls" are doing.
I repeat the bottom line: these teens have no parents in the sense that you and I know the term.
For some reason, Gdani, I have trouble following Libertarian attempts at reasoning.
I'm not a Libertarian, although I'm sure I agree with them on this. I am for a smaller, less intrusive Govt. It's a shame we don't agree on that point.
Tell me, though, why not curfews for adults? Adults certainly commit more crimes than minors.
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