Hello neighbors:

You’ve probably heard about the teen curfew enacted by the Council this week and you may have also heard of my opposition.

Eight councilmembers voted in favor of the curfew, which applies drastic measures for all of our youth, when it is the actions of only a few that require any kind of law enforcement involvement. Five, including me, voted against, and the curfew was enacted as law.

I have serious concerns about criminalizing kids for acting like kids. Policing should not and cannot be a solution to a social issue, and police should not be asked to take the lead on youth welfare. 

But we were able to make two significant changes to the law that will improve the supports for teens and reduce the harm for years to come.

The most important: Council approved an amendment I introduced to sunset the law in two years. That means that the teen curfew law won’t continue past December 31, 2028. Not only does that limit the harm, it also forces District government to come up with real solutions sooner.

My colleagues and the Mayor have talked about things that could be put in place, programs that could be stood up—programs that we all agree would actually work and are, by far, the better approach to supporting our teens and encouraging positive behavior. I say, let’s do those things! This sunset on the new law will force urgency in getting those programs in place, so we don’t have to rely on this blunt instrument, the curfew.

A sunset in 2028 also gives the Council time to evaluate whether the law is effective – and whether the alternative programs that are implemented – are making things better, before deciding to reauthorize the curfew. 

I am thankful to the 10 colleagues who supported the sunset.

The Council also approved another amendment I proposed, which will prevent police from bringing teens to a detention center or police station if they are detained solely for a curfew violation. A curfew violation is not a criminal offense and children who are detained only for that should not be put into a carceral environment. They should be brought home, to a DPR event, to a drop-off center, or somewhere else safe, as provided in the amendment.

Bringing kids who have not committed crimes to the place where young people who have committed serious offenses are kept does real damage and could push some into criminal behavior. Hardly effective or humane. 

To be clear, youth charged with actual crimes would still be transported to a detention center, as current law provides.

All of this should be viewed in the context of what is happening with our budget right now: funding for the Department of Parks and Recreation is being cut, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families is being cut, childcare subsidies are being cut, housing is being cut. Pretty much every program that helps stabilize families and would provide supports to a teen is being cut. To do that and also create a permanent expanded curfew law is, to me, a setup for kids, who are just trying to be kids. And this is government failure, in my opinion.

There was a lot of coverage this week of the curfew law and of my amendments that I believe put us on a path to better ways of helping young people feel supported and make positive choices.

Read/view about the law and the amendments in the Washington Post (paywall) and ABC 7.