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Teen killing in Pasco sparks renewed curfew debate

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Deputies were called at 2:13 a.m. to the parking lot of the Lake Padgett Estates clubhouse after a teenager was shot.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 15, 2009

Updated: 06/15/2009 04:16 pm

Besieged cities have them; as do areas where lawlessness runs amok.

Tampa had one, aimed at teens, not invaders, but it was never really enforced and would up withering under a constitutional attack.

Proponents of teen curfews say the laws stem youthful criminal behavior late at night, thereby protecting law abiding citizens from that feared marauding behavior.

Opponents say the laws tend to be overly restrictive and could unnecessarily make criminals out of normally lawful teens thereby ruining their otherwise promising lives.

The curfew debate resurfaced over the weekend when 17-year-old Dustin Sean White was shot dead at a clubhouse in Pasco County just after 2 a.m. Sunday.

Pasco County sheriff's deputies said the shooting occurred as a group of friends gathered at the Lake Padgett Estates clubhouse there after a party. White, 22431 Stillwood Drive, Land O' Lakes, who had just finished his junior year at Land O' Lakes High School, technically was in violation of the county's curfew on minors.

The curfew has been in place for 12 years and generally restricts teens under 18, from being out between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and between midnight and 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

A minor is exempted if they are accompanied by a parent or another adult authorized by the parent or in an emergency situation.

"The primary goal of this ordinance," the ordinance says, "is to protect our young people."

The curfew gives law enforcement another tool to keep young people in check.

"Most importantly," the ordinance says, "the curfew ordinance is used to protect juveniles who are in danger of becoming the victims of crimes."

"We do have curfew ordinance," said Pasco sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll. "We do enforce it."

According to reports, deputies in Pasco have issued no curfew citations, but 74 warnings between Jan. 1 and May 16. That averages just over four a week. The youngest _ an 11-year-old boy _ was walking unsupervised on Boardwalk Drive in Holiday at 1:15 a.m. on March 22, reports said.

Sabrina Christofilis, 17, of Holiday said parents should play the primary role in getting teens home at a reasonable hour.

"It's really enforced by the parents," she said. "I mean sure, cops take care of it. A lot of parents don't care."

Dale Kipka, a Land O' Lakes parent of a 15-year-old girl, said, "I think it does come back to the parents. I think deputies have more important things to be doing than chasing after our kids."

He said deputies routinely issued citations and warnings to minors out after curfew.

Hillsborough County sheriff's Capt. Donna Lusczynski said there is no curfew law here. But deputies patrolling neighborhoods, apartment complexes or streets keep an eye out for teens late at night.

Lusczynski, who supervises deputies in District 3, which covers the northwest areas of the county, including the expansive suburban communities of Carrollwood, Town 'N Country, Westchase and Citrus Park, said there's a good reason for that.

"Most likely," she said, "they shouldn't be out."

Deputies who spot minors during late night hours will take notice, she said. If they are driving, deputies need a reason to pul them over, but if young teens are spotted walking, deputies can stop and chat.

"We will verify that they're ok," Lusczynski said, "that they're out for legitimate reason. Unfortunately they sometimes are involved in criminal activity."

In Tampa, officials tried to impose a citywide curfew on teens in the 1990s, but a protracted court battle ended in 2004 when the Florida Supreme Court, in a 91-page ruling, threw out the ordinance, saying it was too broad and troubling that the law called for criminal sanctions against youthful violators.

The ruling said the curfew did not provide enough exemptions for teens out with legitimate reasons and that the law was not supported by adequate statistics.

"We don't have curfews," said police spokeswoman Andrea Davis. "Obviously, if there's reason to, we can stop teenagers out and do street checks. We can do street checks on anyone."

Just this weekend, she said, police spotted a 15-year-old after midnight dragging a garbage can full of stolen items.

"He admitted to four burglaries and a burglary the day before," she said. Officers didn't need a curfew law to charge the youth, she said.

Curfews are better left in the hands of parents rather than government said Alex Koroknay-Palicz, executive director of the National Youth Rights Association.

The 11-year-old organization that serves as watchdog over the civil rights of young people, opposes juvenile curfew laws, saying the responsibility of when teens should be indoors should lie with parents.

"We believe such laws violate young people's rights under the First and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution," said an online mission statement.

Koroknay-Palicz said that many jurisdictions impose curfews not to protect young people, but to persecute them.

"We believe that the principle of innocent until proven guilty is an important part of this country and that should apply to teens as well as anybody else," he said.

The argument that curfews could protect teens can't be made, he said.

"Everybody has interest in being protected from crime," he said. "Why not, then, have curfews for seniors or women or other groups?"

The association, which now boasts 10,000 members, was founded by a collection of high school and college students who felt that they were not being treated fairly by government or the media, Koroknay-Palicz said.

As far as curfews are concerned, he said, "We don't think you should be putting somebody in jail or fining them for being outside their home."

He said the association's chapter in West Palm Beach next week will file a lawsuit challenging the curfew law aimed at teens there.

"It's the first case of high school students collectively bringing a lawsuit against a curfew law," Koroknay-Palicz said. Last week, he said, a curfew law in Rochester, N.Y., was struck down.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760.

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