Starting Friday, police in Prince George’s County will enforce a curfew on young people under age 17. And in D.C., reporting from the Washington Post suggests that police have increased enforcement of the city’s longstanding curfew law in recent weeks (though the mayor’s office disputes a broad change in enforcement). 

The Prince George’s County curfew will be in effect between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on school nights, and between midnight and 5 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. D.C.’s curfew is between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on school nights, and between midnight and 6 a.m. on weekend nights. 

Enforcement of both curfew laws usually stops at a warning, officials from both jurisdictions said this week. But officers in both jurisdictions may also fine parents or guardians, and in Prince George’s County particularly, police can escalate enforcement by taking children into custody and releasing them to their parent or guardian, or to social services if no guardian can be reached. 

Local officials have defended the policies, arguing that they are part of an effort to protect young people and prevent crime after a particularly violent August. But several teenagers told DCist/WAMU that they’re skeptical about whether enforcement of the curfew will actually make their communities safer. 

Steffon Carter, a 15-year-old District Heights resident, says he wasn’t surprised when Prince George’s County officials announced that they’d be enforcing the curfew. 

“I expected it, because all of the murder that has been going on,” Steffon says. 

But he doubts the curfew will do much to deter kids from being outside late. “Just like the [COVID-19] quarantine — there was a curfew and people were still outside past it,” he says.

Steffon’s twin brother, Steven Carter, greeted the curfew with some skepticism as well. 

“I didn’t really have a reaction, because I don’t really be out past 10 [p.m.] anyway,” he says. “People don’t really listen to curfews.”

When Prince George’s officials announced the new approach to enforcement, they said that it was part of their response to a surge of killings in August, which they called the deadliest month in the county’s history. The curfew, they say, is aimed at keeping young people inside where they can be safe at night — and deterring them from committing crimes themselves. Officials said there have been about 430 juvenile arrests in the county so far this year, double compared to this time last year.

The county’s strict enforcement is set to last 30 days, officials said this week. 

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that D.C. police had also recently begun to accelerate curfew enforcement in the city. 

Unlike in Prince George’s County, D.C. officials did not publicly announce a policy change. And in a press conference on Thursday, D.C. officials pushed back against the idea that they’ve suddenly and quietly changed their enforcement of the curfew, which has been in place since 1995. 

“I have not announced or directed a new initiative around juvenile curfews,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, though she added that she feels strongly that young people should not be out late at night and should be in their homes.

In 2018 and 2019, the department picked up 63 and 81 children for curfew violations respectively, according to the Post. But, the outlet reported, enforcement of the curfew paused almost entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic: officers stopped only six young people on curfew violations in 2021. But since August 1 of this year, MPD has stopped 16 young people for curfew violations, the Post reported this week — a sign that the city is  enforcing the curfew law at a higher rate.

D.C.’s curfew law allows the city to fine parents up to $500 for violations, but Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Chris Geldart said Thursday that police officers in the city typically just take young people home when they encounter them, and enforcement rarely extends beyond that. 

“There’s no widespread enforcement,” said Geldart. “There’s been no change in our policies on this.”

In Prince George’s, the county’s curfew law allows police to take children into their custody if it’s not their first time violating the curfew, and it also allows the county to fine parents up to $250 — but officials have emphasized that police officers who find young people violating the curfew for the first time will educate them on the curfew and tell them to go home.

While the curfew laws do include some exceptions, including emergencies and provisions for children who are returning home from work or other sanctioned activities, the discussion of ramped up curfew enforcement has 14-year-old Southeast D.C. resident Laniyah King worried about increased hardship and police contact for teens who are already carrying a lot of responsibility, or who have difficult relationships with their parents or caretakers.

When Laniyah found out about the enforcement of a curfew for youth, she says she thought almost immediately of one of her friends, who has a difficult situation at home and often finds herself out late at night because of it.

“In my neighborhood, there’s one family – they don’t get along with their parents at all,” Laniyah says. “They’re always getting put out. I’m very close with the girl, and I can’t imagine [being] in her position.”

Laniyah lives in Southeast D.C. and attends Ballou Senior High School but has friends in both D.C. and Prince George’s County. She says she worries curfew policies have unintended consequences — including increased contact between police and teens who haven’t done anything wrong. 

“Another one of my friends, she’s a teen mom,” Laniyah says. “So there’s so much she’s gotta do to take care of her kids. So many risks she’s got to take. So curfew is not going to stop her from doing a lot of things.”

Laniyah wonders whether enforcing a curfew is the right approach for teens. She’d rather see officials come up with ways to “help assist, instead of punishing,” she told DCist/WAMU.

There is also no conclusive evidence that curfews contribute to a reduction in violent crime; in fact, research suggests they may have the opposite effect.

A 2016 study conducted by the research nonprofit the Campbell Collaborative mentioned the curfew in  Prince George’s County, specifically, in its analysis of 12 evaluations of curfews’ effects, and found no evidence to suggest the practice reduces crime or victimization. In fact, the study observed a slight uptick in crime during curfew hours; youth victimization appeared unaffected.

Fourteen–year-old Laniyah wonders whether a policy aimed at teens unfairly blames them for a rise in homicides in the D.C. area. Homicides involving teenagers are often highly publicized, but they do not represent a majority of the region’s gun violence. A two-year analysis of D.C. homicides published earlier this year found that in 2019 and 2020, the average age of a homicide victim was 31 and the average age of a homicide suspect was 27. 

“It’s not even only teens doing it. It’s a lot of adults out here doing it. And teens being punished for it? I don’t know,” Laniyah says. She says that she’s worried about an increase in carjackings, robberies, and other crimes involving teens, but she feels like stereotypes in the media about Black youth and their role in perpetuating crime are also harmful.

“It’s a lot more innocent Black kids than you think there is,” she says. 

Laniyah also worries that the curfew law might lead to increased police presence in the lives of children who already interact with police frequently in their everyday lives.

“Every day, it’s a whole lot of police cars outside of my school,” she says. “It’s like they’re waiting for us to get out of school.”

On Thursday, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks defended the curfew policy in a post on Twitter, arguing that it’s designed to protect young people — and that police enforcement won’t be initially focused on punishment.

“While there are some who disagree with a 30-day curfew, I am responding to the residents of Prince George’s County who have asked what more can be done to protect their children,” wrote Alsobrooks. “I am not dealing in theory, I am acting as the leader of this community, and as someone who was the chief law enforcement officer of this County. I think we can all agree that none of us want to see negative interactions between police and our youth during this curfew. It’s why the first measure our officers will take, if required, is to educate youth on the curfew and tell them to go home.”

Similarly, in the District, officials defended the curfew as a measure rooted in common sense even as they pushed back against reports that they’ve stepped up enforcement. 

“Should a 13-year-old be out in the middle of the night? If a 13-year-old is out in the middle of the night, they need some adult protection,” Bowser told reporters on Thursday. 

Steffon, who attends Crossland High School in Temple Hills, Md., says he’d like to see other measures aimed at keeping young people safe —  like more metal detectors in schools to find guns, for example. He also says that young people in his community need more programming –  “more sports teams that reach out to kids, or more community centers that they could go to … they all need the same resources at school, instead of some kids being able to have more stuff than others.”

Steffon says he feels safe walking around his neighborhood in District Heights. But he knows that other young people, particularly those involved in crews in D.C. and Maryland, do not — and that’s why they carry guns. 

He says he wants to see an end to gang-related violence and more effective policies aimed at safety for those teens — “to know when they go outside that they don’t need to look over their shoulder the whole time, wondering if they’re going to make it home.”