Karen Nashatker, 17, doesn't like having to observe the curfew her parents imposed. Kathy Moore/Photo Illustration

Out of time

Teens who chafe at parental curfews aren't going to be happy with push for national limits

Web posted July 7, 1998

By Wendy Grossman
Staff Writer

Hannah Tankersley drove to Augusta, walked into a club about 11:30 p.m. and then had to turn around and leave. She lived in Lincoln County and had a midnight curfew.

"I hated it," said the 18-year-old freshman at Augusta State University.

Most teens do.

"A curfew is one way parents restrict their children's individuality," said Karen Nashatker, a 17-year-old senior at South Aiken High School who was sitting recently in the food court at Augusta Mall. She has a 12:30 a.m. curfew in the summer and on weekends during the school year.

"She has a curfew because we care about her," said her mom, Jan Nashatker. "We want to know she's safe at home."

"And not dead," added Karen's 15-year-old sister, Katie.

"If we didn't care, she wouldn't have one," Ms. Nashatker said.

That's the argument most parents make. It's dark. It's late. There are evil people out there. And there are bad things kids can get into in the wee hours (although the U.S. Justice Department reports that most juvenile crime occurs between 3 and 8 p.m.).

"Anything a teen-ager can do after 12 or 1 a.m. is not going to be good," said Augusta psychologist James Maish. "There's more chances for trouble than not."

President Clinton and California Attorney General Dan Lungren have lobbied for teen curfews. If the kids aren't out, they argue, they can't get into trouble, and juvenile crime would drop.

But a study released two weeks ago by the Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington and San Francisco, says that government-imposed curfews don't reduce juvenile crime.

"We concluded that curfews aren't working," says Vincent Schiraldi, director of the Justice Policy Institute in a telephone interview from Washington. "It's pretty pathetic that it hasn't been tested up to this point. This is not a trivial matter. There were 142,000 curfew arrests in America last year. By contrast there were 2,100 homicide arrests."

Curfews are the highest category of arrest, higher than all violent crimes, Mr. Schiraldi says.

Richmond County passed an ordinance in 1993 that requires teens younger than 18 to be off the streets between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from midnight to 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Columbia and Aiken counties have no curfews.Curfews should be handled within families, said Mike Males, the study's co-author.

"It alienates good kids from the cops -- kids who have no business coming in contact with cops," Mr. Schiraldi says. "We don't want our good kids to experience handcuffs and jail cells because they're out too late."

Karen's one of those good kids. Since she's not going to be out drinking, doing drugs or killing little animals, Karen doesn't see why she can't keep hanging out. Why does she have to go home if she's sitting around having fun listening to music or watching television? She knows tons of kids who are more rebellious, "bad kids" who don't have curfews, she says.

"It's the good kids that get the shaft," Katie said.

"Very true," Karen agreed.

"If you didn't have a curfew, when would you go home?" Ms. Nashatker asked.

"Good question," Karen said. She doesn't know.

"We live in Aiken. What would you do? Watch cows?" Ms. Nashatker said.

"Yeah, go cow-tipping," she said. "No, kidding."

She said she'd still go to dinner and a movie. She just wouldn't have to rush right home. She'd have time to linger over ice cream or just chill.

Thembi Mitchell has no curfew. But since all her friends have one, it seems that she does too, said the 17-year-old freshman at Georgia Tech.

Most curfews are negotiable if you call. Dr. Maish always gave his kids a quarter. That way, if they were in the middle of a game or wanted to stay someplace longer, they could call. It was usually fine if they told him and he knew where they were. If they came home an hour late without having called, then there was a problem. It's just a matter of responsibility and respecting your parents enough not to torture them with worry.

The more responsible you are the later they'll let you stay out, Dr. Maish said.

James Gragg's parents let up on his curfew, but he wishes they hadn't because he ended up getting in trouble.

"I was bored and goofing off with friend, and I ended up going to jail for hitting a mailbox. I was going backwards at about 45 mph. It was about 2 a.m.," says James, an 18-year-old freshman at Georgia Southern University.Now he has a state-imposed midnight curfew and had to pay an $1,100 fine.

When daylight dwindles into dark, Adrienne Dacus has to go home. The 14-year-old freshman at Westside High School has a 9 p.m. curfew.

"It's a little early, I think," Adrienne said. She thinks 10:30 would be more reasonable. "It'd give me a little bit of time."

"But Adrienne, it's dark," said her mom, Vivian Dacus. "You don't need to be standing out, hanging out. I don't think so. There's just so many things that can happen out there. You never know who's watching."