The law says: be home by 8:00

(13)It’s a typical night in New Orleans. At the St. Thomas housing project, 14-year-old boys spray gunfire into the night. Across town, in the city’s famed French Quarter, a group of teenage girls vomit on the street after a night of heavy drinking. Not far away, police burst into a motel room chock-full of stolen goods, and arrest two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old.

(14)As one of the nation’s most violent cities, New Orleans has had its share of youth crime. So last year, the city adopted a curfew to get teenagers off the street. Today, anyone under 18 must be indoors by 8 p.m. on school nights and 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday.

(15)New Orleans police say the curfew has produced dramatic results. In the past year, police have rounded up 3,900 kids for violating the curfew. Juvenile murders have fallen by 33 percent, rape by 67 percent, armed robbery by 33 percent, and car theft by 42 percent.

(16)Seeing these results, local governments across the nation have found youth curfews hard to resist. Of the 77 largest American cities, 59 now have curfews. The laws vary from place to place. Most allow police to round up teens at night, while others also cover school hours. In some cases, offenders are taken to detention centers; in others, they are handed a citation, like a parking ticket, and then escorted home.

(17)Despite their apparent success, curfews have drawn a chorus of criticism from tens, parents, and civil liberties advocates. Many law-abiding teens find the restrictions unfair. “It is totally and completely wrong to punish all of the teenagers when only a small percentage are the really guilty ones,” says Jessica Levi, 15, of Washington, D.C., where a curfew was adopted this summer.

(18)Parents and their kids often complain that curfews get in the way of after-school jobs, social activities, and athletics. And civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union charge that curfews violate the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly. Courts have overturned many curfew laws on these grounds.

(19)Law enforcement groups, however, say you can’t argue with success. In Dallas, where crime dropped 15 percent during curfew hours, police are content with the new law. “We don’t look at the curfew as another way to hassle juveniles,” says Vicki Hawkins of the police department. “We look at it as another tool to keep kids safe.”

Punish the parents

(20)When 15-year-old Jeremiah Beck was caught shoplifting a bottle of cologne, he got off scot-free – but his mother didn’t. Though she hadn’t set foot near the scene of the crime, Anita Beck went to court for Jeremiah’s mistake. The charge? Failing to supervise her son.

(21)Faced with a growing number of minor crimes committed by juveniles, the town of Silverston, Oregon, where the Becks live, passed a law holding parents responsible for their kids’ wrongdoings. The law allows judges to fine parents up to $1,000 and require them to take “parent effectiveness” classes if their kids commit a minor crime.

(22)The law was recently adopted statewide and may become a model for communities around the nation. The reason: It seems to be working. Since the law took effect in January, Silverton’s juvenile crime rate has declined by 55 percent, Police Chief Randy Lunsford claims. Before, minor offenders often went unpunished and felt free to try more serious crimes, he says. Now, parents are forced to step in and police their kids before they graduate from petty thievery to armed robbery.

(23)“This ordinance was never meant to punish parents; it was meant to get them actively involved in parenting their kids,” says Tina Lasater, assistant to Silverton’s city manager. “The kids are still held accountable. We’re just putting the other element in: getting their parents involved.”

(24)Not everyone considers the law such as a shining model. Many parents claim it’s unconstitutional to charge one person for someone else’s crime. “This law smacks of totalitarianism,” says attorney Jossi Davidson, who represents a group of parents challenging the law. “It’s too much government intrusion into families’ lives. It absolutely violates due process, under which you can’t be punished unless you’ve done something wrong.”

(25)Anita Beck was found innocent, but sooner or later, Davidson says, a Silverton parent who is found guilty will appeal. A higher court, he predicts, will judge the law unconstitutional.

(26)Meanwhile, other parents are still stuck in court. Sylvia Whitney was cited when her 17-year-old son, Scott, got caught with a beer. While Scott takes a court-ordered alcohol awareness course, his mom is fighting the charge. Scott takes her side. “It should be my fault,” he says. “I got in trouble; she didn’t. The government’s trying to be my dad, and it’s not right.”