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DC's Curfew Law—Public Notices of Change to Curfew Hours
August 28, 2006
I am hereby providing notice to the public that curfew hours in the District of Columbia for individuals below the age of 17 will be set from 10:01 pm to 6 am each night of the week and be in effect for thirty (30) consecutive days, beginning Wednesday, August 30, 2006, at 12:01 am. These alternative curfew hours will expire on Thursday, September 28, 2006, at 11:59 pm. These alternative curfew hours are established pursuant to my authority under Section 3a(b) of the Enhanced Crime Prevention and Abatement Emergency Amendment Act of 2006 (D.C. Act 16-446, enacted July 21, 2006).
It is important that the city take preventative measures to keep children under the age of 17 from becoming victims of violent crimes. In August, the alternative curfew hours imposed by the city resulted in zero victimization of juveniles in public spaces. Therefore, as the school year begins, I have decided to set the curfew at 10:01 pm every night of the week and to help ensure that children under 17 are not placed in harm's way in dangerous or unsupervised situations late at night. It is important to provide for the safety of our children and youth during the hours when they are not in school. For these reasons, I deem alternative curfew hours for the month of September to be necessary in protecting the public's safety.
I hereby rescind the legal notice published on Saturday, August 26, 2006, in the Washington Times and circulated to Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and members of the Council of the District of Columbia, which recommended an alternative curfew beginning at 11:01 pm every night.
Anthony A. Williams, Mayor
July 24, 2006
Pursuant to Section 3a(b) of the Enhanced Crime Prevention and Abatement Emergency Amendment Act of 2006 (D.C. Act 16-446, enacted July 21, 2006), I am hereby providing notice to the public that curfew hours in the District of Columbia for individuals below the age of 17 will be set from 10:01 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. each night of the week and be in effect for thirty (30) consecutive days, beginning Monday, July 31, 2006, at 12:01 a.m. These alternative curfew hours will expire on Wednesday, August 30, 2006, at 11:59 p.m. At the end of the thirty-day period, the foregoing curfew hours will revert to the hours prescribed in the Juvenile Curfew Act unless extended by Mayor's Order.
The establishment of these alternative curfew hours comes as the result of the recent increase in violent crime that has occurred since the beginning of July. During the first fifteen days of July, there were fifteen homicides in the District of Columbia. Over the past thirty days, there has been a nine percent increase in robberies and a 21 percent increase in assaults with a deadly weapon, compared to the same time period last year. In addition, during this calendar year, there has been an eight percent increase in violent crimes, a 14 percent increase in robberies, and a three percent increase in assaults with a deadly weapon, compared to the same time period last year. A disturbing trend is that juveniles are becoming increasingly involved in more violent crimes. Compared to last year, there have been 1,793 juvenile arrests (representing a 14 percent increase), an 82 percent increase in juvenile arrests for robbery, and a 27 percent increase in juvenile arrests for weapons violations.
In order to protect children and youth from becoming victims of crime or from becoming involved in crimes at night, I have determined that these alternative curfew hours are necessary.
Anthony A. Williams, Mayor |
