To Curb Crime Spree, D.C. Starts Curfew for Teens

July 20, 2006 — -- In an effort to halt the crime wave that has seized the nation's capital, the city council has approved a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone younger than 18.

All teenagers -- not only D.C. residents -- for the next three months must be off the streets by 10 p.m. unless they are with a parent, on their way home from work, or going to or from a "structured activity."

Local leaders are taking this and other aggressive steps to combat a crime spree that has resulted in 15 homicides in the past month. Chief of Police Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency last week, canceling officers' days off and changing their schedules to beef up patrols.

Regarding the curfew, "the idea here is to prevent loitering," said Vince Morris, a spokesperson for D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. "If teens don't have any structure at home or any good supervision, they're hanging out on a street corner looking for trouble. There's no good argument for that."

The curfew is an attempt to cut down on the amount of juvenile crime in the district, specifically robbery, which has jumped 82 percent in the past year. While that number is alarming, it is common to see a spike in the summer months when school is out, the mayor's office said, adding that it follows a nationwide trend.

After a 10-year decrease in violent crime across the country, the FBI recently reported a 2.5 percent increase. Police attribute the jump primarily to juvenile crime and easy access to guns.

Other cities have taken action. In Boston, police are randomly searching vehicles, and in Philadelphia, police have installed video surveillance cameras in neighborhoods.

But Washington, D.C., is the only locality to impose a 10 p.m. curfew. This is even more severe than the midnight curfew that has been in place in the district since 1999.

This year, police have taken 2,000 juveniles off the streets for curfew violations and placed them in one of two curfew centers. Parents are contacted, and if they don't pick up their children by 6 a.m., their kids are placed in D.C.'s Child and Family Services Agency.