In the past two years, Indianapolis city government has passed laws setting a curfew and attempting to ban youths from playing violent arcade games. Do these laws violate children's rights? Many kids aren't sure.

Late last school year, Y-Press talked with fifth-graders from Indianapolis Public School 60 to find out what they knew about their rights. To Akilah Shahid, Lauren Strode and Timothy Eldridge, rights are laws that keep you safe but don't limit your actions.

"Rights mean you have something and no one can take it from you," Timothy said.

"Rights are legal things that you can do that won't get you in trouble," Akilah said.

"Rights are when I have the freedom to do whatever," Lauren added.

In Phoenix, Judge Thomas Jacobs presides over Maricopa County Superior Court's Juvenile Division, which handles 50,000 to 60,000 cases a year. Most of the kids he meets also wonder what their rights are.

Children do have some basic rights, but they are relatively new. "Basically, before the 1960s, at least in writing and all the different court decisions that came down from the U.S. Supreme Court, through all the lower courts, children operated under the principle that they were to be 'seen only and not heard,' " said Jacobs.

"Kids are individuals under our U.S. Constitution, and then through all the state constitutions," he continued. "They are protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and they have the responsibility to understand what their rights are, to exercise those rights and, when necessary, to take a stand on a particular issue."

Constitution covers all

Jacobs has been practicing law for more than 30 years and is the author of several legal books for children, including What Are My Rights? and Teens on Trial .

Jacobs pointed out that the Constitution and Bill of Rights apply to every person in America, not just adults.

The kids seemed to have a pretty firm grasp on what those basic freedoms entail. "They let you be free," Akilah said. "Like (the government) won't stand there right above you and tell you, 'You must read this book,' 'You must write this story.' You can read any story you want. You can ride a bike if you want. You can go visit another country."

Although they value their independence, the students acknowledged that many rights are not automatic and come with age and maturity. "Kids have the right to do like half of the things grown-ups do," Lauren explained.

"Our right (as children) is to have fun, to talk, play. But," Akilah continued, "we can't do all the things grown-ups can do because they have different rights and we have different rights."

Jacobs explained that the issue of kids' rights as compared to parents' rights can be complex.

"Along with your rights are your responsibilities as a citizen," he said. "For example, kids have the duty, because of their age, to obey (their) parents. But the flip side of that is that your parents have a responsibility to provide protection, food and sustenance for their kids and not neglect them. If they do that, then the child or teen-ager's responsibility is to obey, cooperate and work with their parents if the rules they impose are reasonable and don't break any laws. So it is really a balance."

There is, and always has been, a question about kids' rights at school. Search-and-seizure issues are the ones that end up in court most often, Jacobs said.

"There's an ongoing debate about what a student's rights are at school. . . . The Supreme Court has said, very strongly, that student rights don't end at the schoolhouse door. In other words, once you set foot on campus or at your school, it doesn't mean that all of a sudden you are just a piece of property or you have no rights," Jacobs said.

Issues about kids' rights in school -- from locker searches to T-shirts with profanity to censorship of school publications -- are complicated by the fact that they are decided on a case-by-case basis, so what may be acceptable in one city is not acceptable in another. For the IPS kids, though, the issue of what they can and can't do at school is pretty simple: They can express themselves and respectfully decline to participate in certain activities.

Knowledge is power

What would America be like if every child knew about his or her civil rights? According to Jacobs, it would be a "better society."

"We try to emphasize that kids should not only know about their rights, but should know about the laws and how the laws apply to them, and also how they can use the laws and use the process, the judicial process, as far as being able to go to court, to vote, to have an effect on legislation or changes in your community," he said.

"It is just valuable information, because you have been fortunate enough to live in a country where these rights are extended to you. Compare yourself to teen-agers in other countries where teens and maybe even women and young girls are treated like property, with absolutely no rights, much less the right to speak out and take a stand on an issue," he continued. "We in this country are very, very fortunate, and I think that is something we not only enjoy because we have these rights and protections, but in order to enjoy them and exercise them, you need to know about them."

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Andrew Nishio, 14.

REPORTER: Kelsey Ebbert, 13.