It has been filed! Today, a teen-led youth civil rights group filed suit against the City of West Palm Beach over its curfew ordinance.
The National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida (NYRA-SEFL), led by Jeffrey Nadel (age 16) is suing West Palm Beach over its curfew, which
This is the first time EVER that a youth led civil rights groups has sued for youth civil liberties! NYRA-SEFL is a chapter of the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA), a youth led civil rights organization with over 10,000 members. More about this below the fold!
West Palm Beach enacted its teen curfew in 2007, two years after Tampa’s teen curfew was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court. The statute prohibits youth under age 18 from being out after 10:30 p.m. NYRA-SEFL believes that this statute is overly vague and unconstitutionally enforced. For example, while the ordinance explicitly states that any activity protected by the First Amendment does not constitute a violation, NYRA-SEFL discovered that the City has issued more than 680 written warnings to teens whose activities were protected by the First Amendment. The organization worked with the city council over several months to persuade the city to drop the curfew law, but after no progress was made the chapter had no choice but to go to court.
Across America, curfews are being challenged and overturned. Earlier this month, on June 9, 2009, New York’s highest court struck downRochester’s youth curfew, finding that the city had failed to show a substantial link "between the burdens imposed by this curfew and the goals of protecting minors and preventing juvenile crime[.]" The Court also found that the statute "fails to offer parents enough flexibility or autonomy in supervising their children."
To date no study has shown youth curfew laws to be effective at reducing juvenile crime or victimization.
Please spread the word regarding these important developments.
And please comment on this issue in the comments section.
I will put the link up to the complaint when I get a copy in PDF.
And I will update with videos of news coverage of this as I get it.
Thanks!