Trick-or-Treaters Over Age 12 Can Face Arrest

I live in a college town and some of our Trick or Treaters were college age. I had no issues as I had no issues with our high schoolers and older middle schoolers. My goodness, why are people so afraid of "kids" over 12??? :confused3

When I was College, my Fraternity took kids from the children's home trick or treating as a community service project. The kids were there for the candy, we had Trick or Treat for UNICEF boxes collecting money for that charity. I was surprised the negative reaction we got about the UNICEF part and by the people who wouldn't give us a penny donation, but insisted we take candy!
 
I lived for a number of years in a community that limited trick or treating to 6-8 pm. No age limitations, and some high schoolers did go, but most wore costumes and seemed into it. Of course there are also a few that just viewed it as a candy grab. But lest you think that two hour window was too restrictive, I used to get 300- 400 children for a number of years. It fell off as the area aged, but still was always at least 200.
 
In college my sorority would trick or treat for cans. It was a service project for a local food bank and we went to the same (affluent) neighborhoods year after year. You always knew when there was a house that had changed hands because they didn’t have a few cans of whatever sitting out with the bowl of candy.

I would rather see teens out trick or treating than other far less innocent activities they could be involved with
 
Yeah, sounds like the link in the original post too some old laws and ran with it to create some sort drama that really doesn't exist.

But it's so much more fun to get our panties all in a wad and run around screaming that someone is trying to take away our rights!

They had a bad incident, they made a law, no more problems so there it sits - ignored after many years. Big deal.
 


I lived for a number of years in a community that limited trick or treating to 6-8 pm. No age limitations, and some high schoolers did go, but most wore costumes and seemed into it. Of course there are also a few that just viewed it as a candy grab. But lest you think that two hour window was too restrictive, I used to get 300- 400 children for a number of years. It fell off as the area aged, but still was always at least 200.

2 hours is nuts- here kids start as soon as they get home from school- 3:00ish and continue on until about 9:00, unless it is a weekend then they will start as early as noon.- usually by 9:00 I am ready to be done and start giving out handfuls to the kids that come then! I don't care if it is high school kids coming, my daughter and her friends were high school seniors and went trick or treating and no one said a word to them around here.
 


The city of Chesapeake, Virginia has an ordinance stating any kid over the age of 12 who is caught trick-or-treating can face fines and up to six months in jail. Moreover, even kids 12 and under face the same penalties if caught ToT after 8 pm.

https://abc7ny.com/society/children...-for-trick-or-treating-in-some-towns/4450665/


I'd raise the age limit to 14. But by the time kids are in high school, there's no reason to go trick-or-treating. Whatever happened to the good old days when you went over to some friend's house and sneaked cigarettes and booze from their parents' liquor cabinet? ;)

This was a thing?! My childhood seems sad and lame now haha :D

Maybe I will sneak some booze in with the candy I hand out this year.....
 
Sad to say - but there's another (unspoken) reason this type of nonsense exists. Chesapeake is one of the most affluent areas in that part of Virginia. The neighboring areas - not as much. I suspect it's similar to other places around the country, where families (or teens) from lower income areas often go to the wealthier neighborhoods to trick or treat. Some neighborhoods embrace that and make it a party. Others don't. The likely give away here is that 8pm cut-off, since it discourages leaving your own neighborhood to travel somewhere else and lose time going house to house.
 
Stay tuned for scenes from the next Chesapeake Five-0.

How old are you kid?
12.
Do you have ID?
Of course not, I'm 12.
You don't look 12.
I was always big for my age.
Wait a minute. My son is 14 and you're in his class.
I skipped 2 grades because I'm smart.

I'm running you in kid. You're one of those evil 13 year olds dressing up and asking for Candy. Book em Dano. Trick or Treating 1.
 
The city of Chesapeake, Virginia has an ordinance stating any kid over the age of 12 who is caught trick-or-treating can face fines and up to six months in jail. Moreover, even kids 12 and under face the same penalties if caught ToT after 8 pm.

https://abc7ny.com/society/children...-for-trick-or-treating-in-some-towns/4450665/


I'd raise the age limit to 14. But by the time kids are in high school, there's no reason to go trick-or-treating. Whatever happened to the good old days when you went over to some friend's house and sneaked cigarettes and booze from their parents' liquor cabinet? ;)

Stupid.

Next thing you know kids over 12 will be shot for trick or treating.
 
Sad to say - but there's another (unspoken) reason this type of nonsense exists. Chesapeake is one of the most affluent areas in that part of Virginia. The neighboring areas - not as much. I suspect it's similar to other places around the country, where families (or teens) from lower income areas often go to the wealthier neighborhoods to trick or treat. Some neighborhoods embrace that and make it a party. Others don't. The likely give away here is that 8pm cut-off, since it discourages leaving your own neighborhood to travel somewhere else and lose time going house to house.

Really? I had not realized that about Chesapeake, VA. Considering the law was enacted in 1967, I wonder if that was the case then.
 
I did get kind of annoyed last year, there were several times when my kids got pushed out of the way or overrun when approaching front porches by groups of obnoxious teenagers. Some of them think they are too cool for school and are walking down the street yelling expletives at each other in addition to that. Not really something I was a big fan of for my 3 little kids. And I'm not usually in the mood to try to parent someone else's unattended kids (they usually completely ignore me anyway because I'm small and look younger). If they were all respectful I wouldn't care if they were 20. Just don't act like little a...'s.
 
2 hours is nuts- here kids start as soon as they get home from school- 3:00ish and continue on until about 9:00, unless it is a weekend then they will start as early as noon.- usually by 9:00 I am ready to be done and start giving out handfuls to the kids that come then! I don't care if it is high school kids coming, my daughter and her friends were high school seniors and went trick or treating and no one said a word to them around here.
Our area has always been 2 hrs even when I was a kid. We also were always on a Friday whether or not it was actually Halloween. Some other nearby cities did do it on Halloween it varied with each municipality. It didn’t seem strange to us cause that’s how it always was though in high school I had a friend from New York and our rules baffled her. No age limit though.
 
Sad to say - but there's another (unspoken) reason this type of nonsense exists. Chesapeake is one of the most affluent areas in that part of Virginia. The neighboring areas - not as much. I suspect it's similar to other places around the country, where families (or teens) from lower income areas often go to the wealthier neighborhoods to trick or treat. Some neighborhoods embrace that and make it a party. Others don't. The likely give away here is that 8pm cut-off, since it discourages leaving your own neighborhood to travel somewhere else and lose time going house to house.

Really? I had not realized that about Chesapeake, VA. Considering the law was enacted in 1967, I wonder if that was the case then.

:scratchin I have to wonder if the law exists as a way to have stronger punishments for vandalism, looting, stealing, defacing/egging someone's property. The police probably don't generally don't act on it or check children's ages if they are acting lawfully, but when a kid does break one of the laws above, the courts can give them more than a juvenile slap on the wrists, in which they will just be back doing the same stuff the following year. South Jersey was mentioned as one of the places that has these laws. There is a LOT of violence, crime and I think gang related crime in Trenton, NJ and the nearby vicinities.

IF the law was enacted in Chesapeake, VA because they didn't want "neighboring kids" from lower income neighborhoods coming into their neighborhood, 1967 was during the height of the civil rights era and a lot of cracking down by authorities. It might have been a way to help the police make sure certain groups of people stay in their own neighborhoods. . . :rolleyes1 :sad2:
 
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What does being disabled have to do with it?

Kids with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities are often "younger than their age" mentally. For example, my 12 year old autistic son is more like a 6 year old in terms of his interests and social skills. My 14 year old is still very much a little boy...he hasn't gone through puberty yet, still sleeps with stuffed dogs, plays with much younger kids, etc.

They will be trick or treating, under our supervision, for probably several more years.
 
I live in a college town and some of our Trick or Treaters were college age. I had no issues as I had no issues with our high schoolers and older middle schoolers. My goodness, why are people so afraid of "kids" over 12??? :confused3
My brother convinced a few friends to dress up and trick-or-treat freshman year. They were living at a seminary (planning to become priests). When they got back, the head priest was yelling at them— “don’t you know it’s illegal to trick-or-treat here if you’re over 16?! Imagine the headlines, “Future Catholic priests arrested for trick-or-treating”

I did get kind of annoyed last year, there were several times when my kids got pushed out of the way or overrun when approaching front porches by groups of obnoxious teenagers. Some of them think they are too cool for school and are walking down the street yelling expletives at each other in addition to that. Not really something I was a big fan of for my 3 little kids. And I'm not usually in the mood to try to parent someone else's unattended kids (they usually completely ignore me anyway because I'm small and look younger). If they were all respectful I wouldn't care if they were 20. Just don't act like little a...'s.

Fortunately we have never had any issues here. We get a few hundred kids in our neighborhood and the teens are always extremely respectful and usually more polite than the little kids.
 
well that will go just fine for disable kids. What a stupid ordinance, let them be kids for a little longer, if they are not abusing the ToT in costume and having a good time why stop them?

I know what you mean about kids with disabilities. We have a family friend that loves to ToT, he is physically in his late 40's but mentally around 6 or 7. I am sure there are many others with similar situations, I hope they would make exceptions in those cases.
 

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