On the first night of the new 10 p.m. D.C. curfew, police picked up 48 juvenile deadline-breakers.
Of the youths apprehended Monday, 31 were picked up before the old midnight curfew hour. Seventeen were picked up after that. The juveniles were taken to two centers where parents picked them up. If they become repeat offenders, their parents can be fined up to $500 and the teens will perform communityservice.
“It’s not fair. We’re not doing anything. Why should they come down on us?” said Brandon Meeks, 16.
District leaders approved changing the curfew for children 16 and younger to stem the spike in juvenile crime that has contributed to a recent wave of violence. Juvenile robbery arrests in the District for the first six months were up 95 percent and four out of every 10 individuals arrested for robbery have been juveniles. One 15-year-old was arrested in connection with the brutal throat-slashing of a man in Georgetown.
Mai Fernandez of the Latin American Youth Center said the D.C. Council’s crime bill blames young people for too much of the crime and doesn’t include enough alternatives for youth.
Police Chief Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency after 13 people were killed in the first 11 days of July. Since then, there have been eight people killed. For the year, there have been 105 homicides, down from 108 this time last year. Robberies for the year have gone up from 2,238 last year to 2,308.
