At 1:59 AM 6/2/96, Duncan Frissell wrote:
Of course curfew laws only control the inarticulate and scruffy. Well dressed children (coat and tie for the boys dress or suit for the girls) who can claim that they are out doing tons of protected things like work and school and worship and political campaigning and "trying to save street children for Jesus" will not be picked up. They can also say things like
This, by the way, is the main thing that concerns certain civil rights groups (including the Santa Cruz chapter of the ACLU). They say they'll be monitoring enforcement patterns to see if more "children of color" are picked up than their percentage in the population represents.
"Ossifer, I'm peaceably assembling to petition the government for redress of grievances. It's in the First Amendment. You could read about it and everything."
Personally, I liked my "religious exemption" example. The Baal worshippers can claim that they are engaging in their religion by grokking the darkness. If picked up and held, they can claim they are "being held without Baal."
to be accused of "owning slaves just like Thomas Jefferson." Parents can also give their kids blanket notes of permission to be out on the streets.
Most of the ordinances, including the one here, specifically state that "blanket permission" by parents is not acceptable. They want _specific_ reasons for being out after curfew. (It's this taking control from both the kids and their parents and putting it in the hands of cops that really bugs me.) By the way, if being out after curfew is breaking the law, can I make a "citizen's arrest" of some of those nice young chicas in Watsonville? --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."