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ENROLLED ORIGINAL
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A RESOLUTION
26-244
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
November 4, 2025
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Juvenile Curfew
Act of 1995 to authorize the Mayor to extend the juvenile curfew hours in the District
when appropriate to protect public safety or public or private property, to authorize the
Chief of Police to establish extended juvenile curfew hour zones in specified
circumstances, to start the juvenile curfew hours at 11 p.m. every day, and to extend the
applicability of the juvenile curfew to 17-year olds; and to amend the Volunteer Services
Clarification Temporary Amendment Act of 2025 to make conforming changes.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Juvenile Curfew Second Emergency Declaration Resolution of
2025”.
Sec. 2. (a) The Juvenile Curfew Act of 1995, effective September 20, 1995 (D.C. Law
11-48; D.C. Official Code § 2-1541 et seq.) (“Juvenile Curfew Act”), was enacted for the
protection of minors to prevent violence and crime in the interest of public health, safety, and
general welfare.
(b) The Juvenile Curfew Act has subsequently been amended multiple times to extend the
curfew period in the Fiscal Year 2003 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2002, effective July 23,
2002 (D.C. Act 14-453; 49 DCR 8026), the Enhanced Crime Prevention and Abatement
Emergency Amendment Act of 2006, effective July 21, 2006 (D.C. Act 16-446; 53 DCR 6477),
and the Juvenile Curfew Emergency Amendment Act of 2025, effective July 7, 2025 (D.C. Act
26-104; 72 DCR 7691).
(c) Since 2023, the District has seen a rise in concerning behavior by some
unaccompanied youth. Already this spring, the District has had several instances of large groups
of youth engaging in harmful, and often times criminal, conduct in multiple areas around the
city, including the Wharf, Navy Yard, and U Street. Multiple fights have broken out and
robberies, assaults, and shootings have occurred. While the Metropolitan Police Department
(“MPD”) has used various methods to address this conduct, including enhanced enforcement of
the disturbance of the peace offenses, working with local businesses on signage related to
trespassing by unaccompanied minors, and requests for a restricted curfew in the Wharf, the
tools available are limited. After seeing the success of the temporary juvenile curfew zones
ENROLLED ORIGINAL
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throughout the summer months when incidents of violence tend to tick upward, the District is
seeking continued flexibility in our juvenile curfew to allow MPD to ensure the safety of both
young people and the public in order to more nimbly address significant safety concerns. Over
the summer, during which several Juvenile Curfew Zones were declared, MPD reports that the
zones successfully kept groups of youth from gathering in those specific zones during the
extended times and MPD found zero curfew violations during the extended hours from 8pm-
11pm.
(d) Unfortunately, since the Juvenile Curfew Emergency Amendment Act of 2025
expired on October 5, 2025, there have already been several instances this month of large
gatherings of youth––in Navy Yard, Gallery Place, Rhode Island Avenue, and elsewhere––that
resulted in fights and robberies. According to MPD, these types of gatherings have become
increasingly predictable, with young people passing out flyers physically and online indicating
that there will be a large gathering on a particular day. When the emergency curfew legislation
was in place, MPD was able to use this kind of information to determine where to designate
juvenile curfew zones in an effort to prevent such gatherings from resulting in violence. Without
this legislative mechanism, MPD has been unable to be as proactive as before, putting a strain on
resources when they must respond.
(e) Therefore, emergency legislation is needed to continue maintaining the safety of
young people and the public in the District.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the
Juvenile Curfew Second Emergency Amendment Act of 2025 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.