Trick or Treating illegal for over 12’s and past 8pm in Chesapeake? Fact Check

Rumours online claim that in Chesapeake, trick or treating children can be arrested, thrown in jail and fined if they are either over the age of 12 years old or trick or treating after 8pm.

The rumours typically spread via the below message –

Trick-or-Treat hours will be from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on October 31 for children 12 and under.
City Code
Sec. 46-8 – Trick-or-treat activites.
(a) If any person over the age of 12 years shall engage in the activity commonly known as “trick or treat” or any other activity of similar character or nature under any name whatsoever, he or she shall be 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.

The rumours are technically true, since they do accurately outline the code of ordinances for Chesapeake (that’s the Chesapeake in Virginia.) However despite being accurate they don’t really tell the whole story.

Yes, in Chapter 46, filed under offenses and miscellaneous provisions in the Chesapeake code of ordinance, it does state that any child partaking in trick or treating activities over 12 years of age can be confined to jail for “no more than six months” and/or fined, and any child trick or treating after 8pm can be confined to jail for “no more than 30 days” and/or fined.

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But these rules are prime examples of little known laws that are rarely, if ever, enforced. Any comprehensive study of a town, village or city’s ordinances is likely to throw up many examples of laws, by-laws or stipulations that are either never used or hopelessly antiquated. Many such laws are often in existence for decades, yet despite being out-dated or becoming irrelevant, are never officially removed from the “books”. In this case, these laws governing trick or treating have been in effect since 1970.

Many such laws or stipulations are only really ever in existence to give authorities power to intervene if necessary to prevent certain circumstances or incidents from arising, as opposed to them being intended to be strictly adhered to or actively enforced.

As such, it is highly unlikely that any child will be arrested for such a misdemeanor, in Chesapeake or anywhere else, unless certain circumstances arise that would require such a dramatic response. We were unable to find any reports of children ever being detained or arrested as per these ordinances in Chesapeake, Virginia.