since when?? Maybe they are where you live, but not where I live.

where in the hell do you live that your parks don't close after dark? think about it how much sense would it make for them to stay open? it would be a breeding ground for shady activities like oh i don't know, maybe random college age people hanging out? If you wanna let your inner child out I'm all for that, go watch a disney movie, maybe go to a chuck-e-cheese or something, hell you could even go swing during the day, but stay away from parks at night, nothing good goes down there.

Parks in new york are closed after dark, which is where this complaint claims to originate.

Parks can close? omfg ****ing Americans and their weirdass laws and special attention to minor infractions

Yeah, it is only in NY. You have to be Under 16 or with a child to be in the part of the park with the swings are. usually

I really had no idea how lucky I am to be living in Europe... :P

College age people being around each other is "shady activity" now?

Wow, UNDER 16 to use the swings? That's just... retarded. Where are the people 17 and older supposed to go?

Parks are closed from 11pm to 6 am where I live. If the cops catch ur as on the swing at midnight he'll give you a ticket the size of the town ur living in xD

I live in NY and I go to parks after dark anyway. I'm a grad student. I'm in class, working, et cetera all day long. When I get the chance and need to 'cool down', I take the dog, and a good flashlight and go to the park by my house, sit on the swings and look up at the stars. It's relaxing... unless it's really cold. Then it's a means to wake up and keep doing work. :/ FML

@ #116 Ahhhhhh! Sitting on swings after dark! How immoral! What the hell?! I can't believe you would do something as sickening as that! The cops should lock you up! On a serious note, It's great to know a country that prides itself on freedom won't let you swing on a goddamn swing because it's night.

They close after like 10 or 11 where I live, and there are signs everywhere that say so. OP, YDI for not being able to read.

I've been in Central Park after dark but the kids sections with swings are closed so I'm guessing it means they broke in.

actually i live in new york and last night i was at the park until 1am so not ALLof them close at night. OP, sorry. FYL.

boobs :-)

I live in PA and they close at dusk here too. I'm not even in Philadelphia, just a little city.

I live in California and never heard of any park here closing, who gives a flying fadoodle if people are at a park late?

Sex swings?

Where I live there are like gates near the park&they close them when the park closes so you can't get in unless you jump the fence.

whaat that doesnt happen.

OP said there were no signs at the entrance or where they were hanging out. There was also a big ass light on the swing set implying it was after dark. OP isn’t the person who can’t read.

There's "ass laws" now??

http://xkcd.com/37/

win. lmao

swings are ment to be swung and by teens too.

our parks never close... me and our mates go to wainoni park and go into the splitting fountains and on the swings lol it's relaxing :D

So it's better to punish and harass the innocent than to let someone guilty get away with anything? That's not a view shared by those who wrote many of the original laws in a variety of democratic countries. Most have that whole 'presumption of innocence' thing, as well as 'reasonable doubt', after all.

I was just explaining why the law exists. People do unlawful things in parks after dark, so they close them by law (in most cities) at dusk to avoid those things. And no one's "harrassing the innocent" here, as they ARE breaking the law (to be out of the park by dusk), even if it's a stupid one. The line has to be drawn somewhere and it's easier to say "Everyone out" than have to make exceptions left and right.

broken_chaos - I think you missed that point that (if the OP is in a district where parks close at dark) the OP *is* guilty.

"People do unlawful things in parks after dark" Yes, but they were not. They were punished for not doing anything wrong. I don't even know what's worse, the policemen who thought they were "Protecting and Serving" people by preventing them from swinging on swings, the Judge who thought that they ought to be taught a lesson, or people who say that they deserve it. I live in France, I guess some of you will hate me for that, but at least we don't let our juridical system go astray (i.e. we don't get harassed by the police / sued by people for NOTHING). I'll swing on a swing tonight, not because I enjoy it that much, but I'm gonna enjoy being able to do it. USA is a brave new world.

they were doing something unlawful, by being in the park when it was closed. There's one very important lesson I've learned in my short life so far: if you're breaking a law, no matter how stupid it is, you can be legally punished for it. I don't know if they mouthed off to the officer, or if he was having a bad day, or even if he's just a dick. It doesn't matter. If the officer thought it was necessary to process them, he can just go right ahead and do that. This is very important for every law breaker to know. I'm not saying you should carefully follow every law. I surely don't. Just know the consequences and don't complain when they get enforced. Also, the reason parks are closed to EVERYONE after dusk is because not every criminal is a shady looking idiot. How do the police know that the innocent looking college kids aren't innocent looking college kids who are dealing drugs? They don't until they investigate. The officer could have decided to enforce the law simply because he ended up wasting his time kicking a bunch of kids out of a park.

they were doing something unlawful, by being in the park when it was closed. There's one very important lesson I've learned in my short life so far: if you're breaking a law, no matter how stupid it is, you can be legally punished for it. I don't know if they mouthed off to the officer, or if he was having a bad day, or even if he's just a dick. It doesn't matter. If the officer thought it was necessary to process them, he can just go right ahead and do that. This is very important for every law breaker to know. I'm not saying you should carefully follow every law. I surely don't. Just know the consequences and don't complain when they get enforced. Also, the reason parks are closed to EVERYONE after dusk is because not every criminal is a shady looking idiot. How do the police know that the innocent looking college kids aren't innocent looking college kids who are dealing drugs? They don't until they investigate. The officer could have decided to enforce the law simply because he ended up wasting his time kicking a bunch of kids out of a park.

I agree with you to some extend, but as one of your fellow american said : “To employ the coercive apparatus of the state in order to maintain manifestly unjust institutions is itself a form of illegitimate force that men in due course have a right to resist.” John Rawls In other words, we are supposed to obey laws, even if we feel they are unjust, but that principle isn't limitless, sometimes we must stand up and say "No, this isn't right". That said, I wouldn't have resisted the police or the judge, because I don't want to be send to prison for having defended my right to swing on swings, I'm just saying that it sucks.

Oh absolutely. I didn't want to make it sound like all laws should be followed no matter what. Just that if you break the law you need to be ready to face the consequences. I'm not about to start fighting the power about whether or not I can go into a children's park after dark.

I don't think anyone's saying it doesn't suck or that OP deserves this. We're just saying that he TECHNICALLY was breaking the law. As far as that France Rocks crap, you guys have your own set of problems, so quit preaching to us.

Doesn't happen in Australia, thank goodness. Only things like the Botanic Gardens close. And public toilets are locked. But I can go and swing on the swings at 2 am if I so choose!

your an idiot

That would be *you're an idiot*. As in "you are". It's a contraction.

YayAmerica, I'm not going to argue with you over which country has the most problems, I don't care if you stay a witless nationalist for the rest of your life. My point was that America has the dumbest laws and SOME of them should not be enforced at all (and I'm not the only one who brought it up but you answered to me only, you just don't like french people and that's ok, I don't need your sympathy). To continue the debate with non-biased people, YES, she was breaking a law, but she wasn't doing anything WRONG, there's a big difference. YES people do bad things at night in parks, but she wasn't. What's next? People do bad things in streets at night, are you going to be forced to stay away from streets? Is it a crime to be where people sometimes commit crimes? People shouldn't be prosecuted when they don't do anything wrong. It's as simple as that. And laws should be written accordingly.

"So it's better to punish and harass the innocent than to let someone guilty get away with anything?" Except they weren't innocent; they did break the law. And as it's a minor law they got a minor penalty. It's really nothing to cry about. Additionally, it's not only the drug deals that go down in parks at night. A lot more shady stuff can happen--murders, rapes, etc., in the relatively isolated environment.

yeah we're lucky. I love hanging out at parks at night.

please stop making assumptions that yayamerica is a "witless nationalist" because you're both acting the same way about where you are from. Also, your both being a bit ethnocentric in that you can't accept other cultures views as you believe yours to be superior. and no I'm not arguing for or against anyone. I'm from neither America nor france. just stop making assumptions and thinking y our both better than the other.

I love this debate. Don't stop now!

Look at the bright side, they didn't get you for that pocket full of X.

Actually that law applies in many countries.

*flames*