New Jersey--Daytime Curfew Bill Scheduled for Vote Monday, 12.13.04 (HomeSchooling Alert)

12.10.04 | Scott Woodruff, Esq.

[Coleus]

New Jersey--Daytime Curfew Bill Scheduled for Vote Monday


Dear HSLDA members and friends:

A daytime curfew bill that has already passed the Senate may have an impact on homeschoolers. The Assembly will probably vote on S155 on Monday, and it is very unlikely it will be defeated. Therefore HSLDA is prepared to help homeschoolers at the local level if problems arise from this legislation.

As it is written, it authorizes municipalities to adopt curfew ordinances forbidding public and private school students--but not homeschool students--from being in public places during the hours their school is in session. If the bill becomes law and your municipality tries to adopt a curfew, be vigilant to ensure that the local ordinance is not worse than the state law allows, and work to defeat all such ordinances.

Below are several reasons why we have opposed daytime curfews across the country.

Daytime curfews do not deter juvenile crime. 

Curfew proponents rely most heavily on the argument that daytime curfews deter juvenile crime. If this premise were true, then areas that strictly enforce a curfew ordinance should have a lower juvenile crime rate than areas that do not have a curfew. A recent California study compared the crime rates of counties that enforced curfew ordinances and counties that did not. The study found that the crime rate of the counties where a curfew ordinance was enforced remained the same as those counties without such an ordinance. The curfews had no effect on juvenile crime.

Daytime curfews allow searches without probable cause.

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution proscribes any investigation of a citizen without a "probable cause." Under curfew ordinances, police are not bound by this principle. They have the authority to stop and question, and possibly cite, anyone who appears to be young enough to be violating the curfew.

Daytime curfews assume a person is guilty until proven innocent.

In several incidents where home school students were stopped by police, the teenagers had not engaged in any suspicious activities. There was no evidence that they either had committed a crime or intended to commit a crime. Nonetheless, the police subjected the young people to interrogation and suspicion until they had proved their innocence. A daytime curfew reverses the long-held American presumption of "innocent until proven guilty."

Daytime curfews are too vague.

If a person of ordinary intelligence cannot understand what a law permits and prohibits, the law is considered "vague" and, therefore, unconstitutional. Daytime curfews can be challenged easily for vagueness. Terms such as "loitering," "idling," or even "being in" can be interpreted at an officer's or court's discretion, giving juveniles no clear idea of what they can or cannot do in public during the curfew hours. Because the ordinances are vague, they are void.


Sincerely,

Scott Woodruff
HSLDA Staff Attorney

 

 (2) A municipality is hereby authorized and empowered to enact an ordinance making it unlawful for a juvenile of any age under 18 years within the discretion of the municipality to be in any public place during the hours when the juvenile is required to be in attendance at either a public or non-public school unless the juvenile is accompanied by a parent or guardian or is carrying written permission from the juvenile's educational authority allowing the juvenile to be in a public place.

S155 Permits municipalities to adopt school-time curfew ordinances for juveniles.
2nd Reading in the Assembly

Identical Bill Number:   
Last Session Bill Number:   

Bryant, Wayne R.   as Primary Sponsor
Sarlo, Paul A.   as Primary Sponsor
Sacco, Nicholas J.   as Co-Sponsor

1/13/2004 Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee
2/9/2004 Reported from Senate Committee, 2nd Reading
2/23/2004 Passed by the Senate (38-0)
2/23/2004 Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee
9/23/2004 Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading

Introduced - 3 pages PDF Format    HTML Format
Statement - SCU 2/09/04 - 1 pages PDF Format    HTML Format
Technical Review Of Prefiled Bill - 3 pages PDF Format    HTML Format
Statement - AHO 9/23/04 - 1 pages PDF Format    HTML Format

To find your two Assembly members and one State Senator: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp

sensacco@njleg.org, sensarlo@njleg.org, senbryant@njleg.org, sencodey@njleg.org; asmsires@njleg.org

[Coleus]

We already have enough truancy laws on the books which aren't enforced.  We need a daytime curfew law as much as the USA needs more gun laws.  Just enforce the laws already on the books and hold the parents accountable for those non-homeschool students who are cutting school.  The Schools changed the job title of Truant Officer to Attendance Officer to make it more PC. 

The city of Paterson, NJ, used to have a municipal court judge who was so successful at prosecuting the parents of truant students  where he made the parents  attend school with their delinquent children that  they made him a superior court judge and guess what happened?  Paterson and other towns stopped  prosecuting the parents.

Restrictive Homeschool Legislation to be introduced Thursday (NJ)
email | 1/6/03 | Scott Woodruff, HSLDA staff attorney
Posted on 01/06/2004 6:40:54 PM EST by agrace

Washington Times Op-ed – Who Better Than Family to Instill Values?

 

[Calpernia]

So the police have to be aware of every private schools schedule?

[dubie]

Oh neat. A police state... /s

[Coleus]

Heck, How can you expect a truant student to become the NYC Police Commissioner and Chief of the US Homeland Security Department if he's not allowed to Cut school, go to nyc to become a black belt (how did he pay for the lessons?), join the army and ........

Kerik Named Homeland Security Chief

[Da Bilge Troll]

...forbidding public and private school students--but not homeschool students--from being in public places during the hours their school is in session...

Aren't places like art museums "public places"? Guess that's the end of "field trips"! LOL!

[nmh]

Why not just enforce existing truancy laws and leave home schoolers alone?

[NJ_gent]

"So the police have to be aware of every private schools schedule?"

Few go outside the county's school schedule. Even for school closings, most private schools simply do whatever the county decides. Sometimes their school year will start and/or stop a few days off of the public schools due to religious holidays and such, but those sorts of things are far more an exception than a rule and can generally be ignored by police enforcing these draconian and semi-Soviet laws.

[NJ_gent]

They're not US citizens, they're kids! [/sarcasm]

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[myvoice]

"Why not just enforce existing truancy laws and leave home schoolers alone?"

Exactly.

[skutter]

"Daytime curfews assume a person is guilty until proven innocent."


Kind of like the under age drinking laws where a cop can come into a bar and ask you for an id when you're not causing any trouble. More Government control is not the answer.

[Calpernia]

>>> Few go outside the county's school schedule.

We have more half days per month than the public schools and days with no school that is not on the public school calendar.

[Fire137]

New Jersey has about 400+ school districts who's "off" days vary. Some have off Jewish holidays some don't. Some are off the week before Easter, some after. So if my kids are at my mom's house playing in the street in a different town or at Grandpa's house riding bike's I guess they will be stopped by the police? What a joke! Another waste of a cities or municipality's law enforcement and or truancy staff!

[Focault's Pendulum]

The urban area's police departments will be overwhelmed if forced to enforce this.

Who thinks they'll really enforce it.

[ladylib]

Thanks.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Yep, NJ is well on it's way to becoming a police state, what with the Highlands Bill and now this!!!

Due to a scheduling error, my high school senior son has an open block and lunch from 9:30 am untill 11:40 am. He goes out for lunch or breakfast during this time. Since he's a senior, the school allows him to sign out. You mean to tell me that if this bill passes, it would be illegal to do this???? This State is fast becoming a joke!

[OldFriend]

Sounds like you haven't had a child in private school.

[Coleus]

When I went to high school, not only were we NOT allowed to sign out, our cafeteria was diced up into "sections" where we had to stay all period with the same 40 students all year long and had to wait for our section to be called to go up to the serving line!

[Tired of Taxes]

Ackkk!! I'm on several different NJ homeschool email loops, and I didn't see this notice on any of them. I wonder if many HSers here even know?? I'm going to check again right now and send it out myself... because it could complicate matters for us even more around here, as we're already treated with suspicion these days in NJ.

Thanks for the heads up, Coleus!