These laws are such a burden for responsible teens who want to have fun without drinking or doing drugs. It just assumes all teenagers are up to no good and no once has responsible parents. The other problem is that there is no set definition of being "out" because if you are going to or from something, you're not loitering.

When my brother was 17, he was being driven home by his friend who was 18. They were involved in youth theater, it was after a show so it was pretty late at night, probably past midnight, but they had parental permission to be out. They stopped at Rite Aid two blocks away from our house so his friend could get a drink, my brother waited in the car. The cops made him get out of the car, in the back of the cop car, and called my mom. She was asleep. The cops forced her to come get him. They weren't drinking or doing drugs or anything. She was furious with the police.

Another time, I was 18 and hanging out with two friends who were 17. We were going to go see a movie that started after 10. We went to Starbucks right before it closed, where we ran into some people we knew, also under 18. When Starbucks closed, the cops were waiting for us outside. They gave us a bunch of shit, and when I told them I was 18, they said "Are you responsible for them?" as in all of the 17-year-olds. I didn't know what to say. I just said "we're going to a movie..." and they told us to get going. We couldn't even hang out outside a Starbucks for five minutes to say good bye to each other.

I'm almost 30 now and I still feel like this is a waste of police time/energy. There are so many drunk drivers on the streets, and yet the cops have to go harass teenagers who are doing nothing wrong. The kids who are drinking and doing drugs aren't doing it in the parking lot of a Rite Aid anyway.