By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

With summer underway and more area youth out and about while enjoying the warm weather, knowledge of curfew times are important.

These laws are two-fold: the first being that it’s unlawful for a person under the age of 17 to be out without a parent or guardian between 12:01 a.m. and 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday evening through Friday morning. The second part is for drivers under the age of 17 in accordance with the graduated driver’s license laws.

Pontiac Police Chief Jim Woolford explains why these laws are in place.

“The purpose is, quite frankly, it came down to the old adage that nothing good happens that late at night. Being out that late at night, there’s a high likelihood of being involved with other illegal activities or being around people who may want to exploit younger people. The idea is really a safety concern for our minors and the fact that they haven’t reached legal age means they need parental supervision, and having those state-enforced curfews is one methodology of doing that,” Woolford said.

Woolford also said in the case of a curfew violation, the punishment varies from being taken home to being taken to jail and referred to the juvenile courts. As for curfew violations while driving with a graduated driver’s license, the driver would receive a citation for driving without a license for violating the graduated driver’s license.