DC juvenile curfew enforcement starts Friday
Enforcement of the juvenile curfew pilot program in D.C. starts on Friday at midnight.
The youth curfew will be targeted in seven focus areas, including Chinatown and the U Street area. Under the program, D.C. police will be able to bring young people out after curfew to the Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services until they can be reunited with a parent or guardian, according to D.C. officials.
The curfew hours run Sunday through Thursday from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. and Friday through Sunday from midnight to 6 a.m. The juvenile curfew applies to young people under 17 years old.
This new pilot program means that starting on Friday, any juvenile under 17 in the D.C. area in any public place or establishment will be committing an offense if they are in the seven focus areas.
“The goal is not to arrest young people,” said Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah. “We want them safe and off the street.”
She said the first step, if a juvenile is on the street violating the curfew, is to get them to go home or to identify who their parent or guardian is to get them to come and get them.
Then, they will take them to the Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services instead of to the precinct, where they will assume custody until they can get safely home.
“It is not unusual for it to be hours of getting accurate information from the young person, figuring out where they live,” Appiah said.
The seven focus areas included in the Juvenile Curfew Enforcement Pilot cover the following areas:
- District 1: Chinatown and Navy Yard
- District 3: U Street area
- District 3: Howard University/Banneker
- District 4: 14th Street between Otis and Spring Road, NW
- District 4: 4000 Georgia Avenue, NW
- District 6: 4400-4600 Benning Rd, SE
- District 7: 1300 Congress Street, SE
WTOP’s Matt Small contributed to this report.