Few teens losing sleep over lack of a curfew

By Sean F. Driscoll and Stephen Beaven

July 14, 2000 Web posted at: 1:42 PM EDT (1742 GMT)

In this story: Teens unfazed Cities look for alternatives RELATED STORIES

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (Indianapolis Star) -- It's Friday, creeping on midnight, and 17-year-old Alex Redmond is pondering her newfound freedom.

She's with two friends at a Far-Northside Steak n Shake just five days after a federal judge ruled Indiana's curfew law unconstitutional. Like many of her peers, Alex doesn't believe the ruling will change her late-night habits.

Ruling or not, there will be parents.

"Parents are still going to have a curfew," she said. "That won't change."

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But keeping teens off the streets also remains a priority for public officials. From the Indiana Statehouse to the town hall of Speedway, state and local officials already are considering alternatives -- new laws or ordinances that can pass constitutional muster.

The July 3 ruling by U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder found Indiana's decades-old law overbroad, violating the constitutional rights of teens. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union challenged the law on behalf of an Indianapolis teen arrested last summer for breaking curfew.

The decision was hailed by civil libertarians, who have been successfully challenging similar laws across the country.

But many young people don't expect the decision to change the way they spend their free time at night. Some, like Alex, say their parents will continue to enforce their own curfew rules. Others are pragmatic.

If you're out late and you don't attract police attention, they say, you won't get in trouble.

"As long as you aren't in trouble with the cops, it's cool," said Terrance Owens, a 14-year-old hanging out with friends at a Near-Northside gas station.

Some police departments didn't make curfew scofflaws a priority.

"We've got 300 police officers," said Capt. Bill Welcher of the Evansville Police Department. "They've got more to do than run around checking people's ages."

Indiana's curfew law had prohibited anyone younger than 18 from being in a public place after 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays without a parent or guardian. Exceptions were made for teens participating in school functions, work or a religious activity. Those who are 15, 16 and 17 could stay out until 1 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

The ruling prompted Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson to announce last week that he would propose a city curfew ordinance that would pass constitutional muster.

Speedway officials also are considering changing the town's curfew ordinance, said Police Chief Jeffrey Dine.

Speedway has suspended its ordinance. Officials may have a new proposal within two weeks.

The Indiana General Assembly also is likely to consider new legislation next year to replace the law, said Sen. Richard Bray, R-Martinsville, who chairs the judiciary committee.

"I'll be the first to admit it's not widely enforced," Bray said of the faulty law. But he considered it symbolic legislation, giving parents guidelines on how late teens can stay out.

Indiana has had a curfew law since at least 1945, when a juvenile delinquency law was passed. The law targeted incorrigible teens and such behavior as the use of "vile, obscene, or indecent language."

The curfew law also attempted to herd teens back to their homes by 10 p.m. each day unless they were engaged in "lawful business or occupation."

For the past 55 years, lawmakers have continued to tinker with the curfew law. But ICLU attorney Ken Falk said he suspects all previous versions were unconstitutional. Apparently, no one had attempted to challenge it before.

As curfew sweeps were stepped up in 1995, juveniles arrested in Marion County began to be tested for drugs and alcohol -- which Tinder found to be in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights.

While Tinder's ruling has forced state and local officials to take a second look at the law, it's had little effect on the relationship between teens and police.

"So far, it's been pretty much business as usual," said Speedway's Chief Dine. "But in time, I'm sure there'll be a group that will push it to the max."

Speedway police were issuing $25 citations to curfew violators. Or, they would be taken to the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center -- sometimes for an overnight stay. Now, Dine's officers call the parents or simply send the teens home.

Evansville's curfew ordinance remains in effect. But, Welcher said, it usually isn't enforced unless other violations are evident.

Teens hanging out in Marion County tend to agree with the police -- that being without a curfew law is no big deal. Most haven't been hassled by police about curfew. They've heard about the court ruling but don't seem to care.

Some kids have been hassled, perhaps unfairly.

George Martinez, 17, was stopped while walking with a friend to an early morning study hall at Tech High School.

"We had our bookbags in our hand," said George, out past curfew at a dance club on Massachusetts Avenue. "The cops kept bugging us, saying I needed to be somewhere."

Eventually, the officers drove them to school just to get them off the street, George said.

Still, he doesn't think a curfew law is a bad idea. He said he doesn't get into trouble. His late-night foray on a weekend is spent at an after-hours club with a policy prohibiting drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

As far as 17-year-old club-goer Jennifer Talkington is concerned, curfew laws don't do much. Teens can get into trouble before 11 p.m. just as easily as they can after, she said.

"It won't stop anybody."

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