WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Almost two years after West Palm Beach passed a controversial teen curfew law, a group of teens is challenging the ordinance.
Jeffrey Nadel, president and founder of the National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida, believes the curfew is unconstitutional.
"The ordinance is far too vague to understand," Nadel said. "It's incomprehensible and it's overbroad."
The ordinance -- which bars anyone under the age of 18 from the downtown district without a parent after 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends -- has been lauded by the city.
"Downtown West Palm Beach is practically crime-free since we put in this curfew," Mayor Lois Frankel said. "It's been one of the most successful initiatives in the history of the city."
Records show police have issued more than 600 curfew warnings. But the Boca Raton-based teen group claims that, however effective, the curfew is not the right approach to combating underage crime.
"A lot of society's problems could hypothetically be solved by curtailing essential civil liberties," Nadel said. "If there's too much speeding or too many car accidents, we can outlaw driving. But that's not the way to address this."
This week, the group retained civil rights attorney Barry Silver after efforts to pressure city commissioners to rescind the ordinance failed.
Last year, Silver successfully fought the city to overturn a similar ordinance that banned feeding the homeless on downtown streets.
"If the city of West Palm Beach spent half as much time trying to keep lobbyists and business people from interfering with their commission meetings and commission activities as they do trying to keep the homeless and kids off the streets, they'd be much better off," Silver said.
Silver is preparing to sue the city on the grounds that the curfew is unconstitutionally vague and impossible to legally enforce.
The city, however, has no plans to back down.
"I think they're wrong," Frankel said. "You know what? Their parents need to baby-sit for them, not our police."
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Originally Posted by Adamantaimai
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