

WANAQUE — The state's American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit challenging Wanaque's youth curfew law on behalf of a 17-year-old who was ticketed last year.

According to a posted on the ACLU's website on Thursday, Shaina Harris was cited at around 11 pm. on Sept. 22, as she walked from a local Burger King to her family's home across the street.

Harris, who earned her GED at 16 and was taking community college classes at the time, claims she had permission from her mother to walk to the restaurant and purchase a milkshake.

However, Harris was given a ticket because she is considered a juvenile, whom the borough bars from being in a public location after 10 p.m., unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

The borough's municipal code states that the curfew was instituted in 2005, after an "increase in juvenile violence and crime by persons under the age of 18 years".

It contains a number of exceptions to the ordinance, including one that allows for youths to be "on the sidewalk that abuts the minor's residence or the sidewalk that abuts the residence of the next-door neighbor."

Harris recently had a hearing in municipal court postponed so that the ACLU could file the lawsuit on her behalf in Passaic County Superior Court. If the citation is upheld, Harris would face a $100 fine and up to 15 hours of community service.

Harris and her mother, Linda Richardson, say the ticket was unreasonable and infringes on their constitutional rights.

"I think parents are the ones who should determine and set curfews for their children, not the borough," Richardson said.

Wanaque officials have yet to comment on the lawsuit.

The New Jersey ACLU has successfully fought youth curfew laws in the state before. In 1999, it won a battle with West New York officials over laws there, and the decision was upheld by an appellate court in 2004.

The organization's Executive Director, Udi Ofer, said that many of the laws are created to keep youths out of trouble, but often, as in Harris' case, has the opposite effect.

"This juvenile curfew law does not protect communities, but instead needlessly funnels young people into the criminal justice system,” he said.