| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 6/3/2004 11:59:33 AM Home School Legal Defense Association Alabama--Calls Needed Now To Stop Harmful Curfew |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== June 3, 2004 Alabama--Calls Needed Now To Stop Harmful Curfew Dear HSLDA members and friends: Last night, the Montgomery City Council passed a Daytime Curfew forbidding anyone under the age of 18 from being out in public from 8:00a.m. until 3:00p.m, Monday through Friday. HSLDA is opposed to this ordinance because it is an unnecessary and burdensome restriction on the rights of homeschooling families. In other cities and states, homeschoolers have faced fines from enforcement of curfews simply because they were playing outside, going to the store, or walking to a class for additional studies. The ordinance makes no exceptions for homeschool students. Therefore, it applies to all persons under the age of 18. A homeschool parent, under this ordinance, could be subject to arrest for their child's violation. This ordinance is on the mayor's desk at the present time; he has 10 days to sign it. We need your calls now to try to persuade the mayor to veto it! REQUESTED ACTION Please call the Office of the Mayor and respectfully request that he veto this ordinance. Montgomery Mayor's Office: (334) 241-2000. Give him this message: "Please veto the curfew ordinance and protect the constitutional rights of the citizens of Montgomery. Enforce truancy laws instead to stop crime." BACKGROUND - Curfew proponents rely most heavily on the argument that daytime curfews deter juvenile crime. If this premise was 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 California study compared the crime rates of counties that enforced curfew ordinances and counties that did not.i 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. - In the incidents mentioned above, none of the teenagers had 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 these 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." - The Constitution guarantees all citizens equal treatment under the law-courts will make no judgment based on property, wealth, or fame. Under a curfew, juveniles learn that "equal protection" means that all juveniles are punished equally, distinguishing between neither victims nor perpetrators, neither innocent nor guilty. Juveniles quickly learn that because some kids are truant and some kids commit crimes, all kids must suffer. If our liberties depend on everyone else's good behavior, our liberties are fragile indeed. - Curfew laws prohibit the constitutional right to move about freely, among other activities. Any restriction of a fundamental right must be supported by a compelling governmental interest. Furthermore, the restriction must be as narrow as possible, so that it impinges on a citizen's rights as little as possible. Daytime curfews do not meet this requirement. There are less restrictive methods of dealing with truancy and crime. Curfews are too broad and are illegal. For more information on daytime curfews, please visit our website: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1610 Sincerely, Chris Klicka HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Paid an attorney lately? Legal consultation can easily cost you upwards of $100 an hour. For the same fee, why not have a lawyer on call for you 24/7? More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1098 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
