8. In this Virginia town trick or treating over the age of 12 can lead to jail time
The city of Chesapeake, Virginia passed a law which restricts the Halloween tradition of trick or treating to children below the age of twelve and limits the activity to a specified time period of two hours, with penalties for continuing to collect candy after eight o’clock at night. The law states that anyone over the age of twelve engaging in the activity is “guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25.00 nor more than $100.00 or by confinement in jail for not more than six months or both”. Continuing to trick or treat after the allotted time leads to lesser penalties, with not more than thirty days in jail and a fine ranging from ten to one hundred dollars.
Surrounding communities adopted similar ordinances, with Portsmouth, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach restricting children over the age of 12 from participating in the Halloween tradition, though they allow older children to escort their younger siblings, while not wearing masks. Other communities around the country also limit the age at which children may solicit free candy on Halloween. In Charleston, South Carolina, children may trick or treat until the age of sixteen, for example. All of the communities which restrict the activity to younger children claim that their chief motivation for doing so is safety, apparently attempting to protect them from predatory older children.
