Starting Friday night, kids and teens are once again under an 11 p.m. curfew in the District.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed emergency legislation Friday to reinstate the summer juvenile curfew of 11 p.m. for anyone under 18 years old. The overnight restrictions lift at 6 a.m., according to the bill.
The curfew is expected to remain in effect for the next 90 days.
The legislation also gives D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith the option to make designated zones where the curfew begins earlier, with the earliest possible start time being 8 p.m.
The youth curfew comes after a hectic Halloween night that brought hundreds of teens to Navy Yard last Friday.
Though the gathering started out peaceful, police said the group broke out into fights and disrupted traffic. Several of the teens were arrested and charged for crimes such as possessing a weapon, consuming marijuana and resisting arrest.
That behavior motivated some D.C. leaders to bring back the youth curfew from the summer, which had expired on Oct. 5.
Earlier this week, Council member Brooke Pinto proposed the emergency legislation and framed it as a preventative tool.
Some council members argued the curfew isn’t a long-term solution, but the bill ultimately passed on Tuesday, with a couple members voting against it.
Critics of the curfew have said solutions to youth crime should involve investing in resources for young people, such as mentorship programs and mental health support.
In response to the group at Navy Yard, Bowser put a limited juvenile curfew into effect that began last Saturday, Nov. 1, and ended on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
Before Halloween’s teen melee, Smith had argued in favor of permanent curfew zones as a proactive effort while speaking to the D.C. council during a roundtable discussion last week.
WTOP’s Linh Bui contributed to this report.
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