Teenagers beware: you can be arrested in Chesapeake, Virginia for trick or treating.
The city’s ordinance code prohibits anyone over the age of 12 from trick or treating; a teenager could be charged with a misdemeanor and face a fine of $25 to $100 and/or up to six months in jail.
The code also prohibits trick or treating after 8:00 p.m.; those who violate the code “shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $10.00 nor more than $100.00 or by confinement in jail for not more than 30 days or both.”
The city’s website claims police “will focus on making sure the evening is safe for everyone” but won’t be “actively seeking out violations of the time or age limits.”
“[A] thirteen year old safely trick or treating with a younger sibling is not going to have any issues,” the statement said. “That same child taking pumpkins from porches and smashing them in the street more likely will.”
Evan Maguire, the Editorial Associate of the American Spectator and a native of Chesapeake, Virginia told the Daily Wire he was “upset” about the ordinance. “Having an unjust law on the books, even if it’s rarely enforced, is not right.”
Maguire said he reached out to the city and asked them the purpose for the rule. “This goes against our most fundamental freedoms as Americans and I find these penalties downright authoritarian,” he said in his message to the city. “How dare you prosecute kids over 12 for having fun, they’re still kids!”
According to Reason, other Virginia towns including Newport News, Norfolk and Suffolk also have a 12-year-old age limit.