Baltimore mayor says citywide youth curfew 'not about arresting them'

BALTIMORE - Baltimore's mayor is doubling down on enforcing a youth curfew after a surge in violence impacting young people. 

In one of the latest incidents, a 16-year-old was shot and killed in North Baltimore Monday afternoon. 

In a new interview, Mayor Brandon Scott insists this is not about punishing young people, but instead, protecting them from violence and getting them and their families the help they need.

The citywide curfew for youth starts Memorial Day weekend. The curfew for anyone younger than 14 will be 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and for those younger than 17, the curfew will be 10 p.m. You can read the policy here.

"It has never been about youth crime," Scott said. "This is about connecting the vulnerable children and their families to services."

The youth curfew in Baltimore is nothing new and neither is the controversy surrounding it.

In 2014, then Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake drew protests when she supported the stricter curfew that's now on the books.

"They could be harmed, they could harm someone else and we're supposed to turn a blind eye to it? No," Blake said at the time.

Parents were not happy then about the decision to place a curfew in Baltimore.

"We're criminalizing the parents instead of helping out," a parent said in 2014. "A bad idea with good intentions."

Flash forward to today, Mayor Scott said the curfew is about is about getting children off the street and away from violence.

"This is about keeping as many of them as possible off the streets and protecting them when they're out alone by themselves or in groups by themselves away from adults," Mayor Scott said. "But it's also about making sure we can figure out what's going on with them and their families so we can help to provide that service."

Here's how the curfew works: 

• Those under 14 have to be inside by 9 p.m.
• Those between the ages of 14 to 16 have to be inside by 10 p.m. on school nights and 11 p.m. on weekends. 
• It goes into effect the Friday before Memorial Day and lasts through the last Sunday in August. 
• Parents face fines up to $500.
• Children out after hours will be brought to one of two Youth Connection Centers in Baltimore City.

"Never do we place young people in handcuffs for curfews," Mayor Scott said. "That's arresting them. This is not about arresting them." 

Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue denounced curfew enforcement and told WJZ in a statement, "What we have learned since the 'old days' is that curfews are unconstitutional, racially biased policing strategies that drive unnecessary and harmful contact between police and Black and Brown children." 

Baltimore Police policy says officers are not allowed to pursue curfew violators in a vehicle or chase them on foot.

The police union says the department is so short staffed, any curfew will be tough to enforce.

The curfew comes as some residents are demanding action following a shooting that injured two teens at the Inner Harbor Sunday night, and a rise in juveniles being killed on Baltimore's streets.

"The reality right now is that every other category of person in the city of Baltimore has seen a decrease in homicides and shootings except for our young people," Mayor Scott said. 

Overall homicides are down 17 percent and non-fatal shootings down 19 percent compared to this time last year in Baltimore City.

In:
• Youth Violence