“Baltimore Implements Teen Curfew to Scale back Gun Violence”

  • Baltimore teenagers are below a curfew this summer time in an effort to curb gun violence. 
  • The coverage hopes to stop teenagers from “changing into the victims or perpetrators of violent crime.”
  • The police division acquired a memorandum that it will not be imposing a lot of the curfew, WJZ Information mentioned.

Baltimore teenagers are below a curfew this summer time as part of the town’s plan to sort out gun violence. 

The curfew started Friday, forward of Memorial Day Weekend, and can final till September 3, 2023, simply days earlier than Labor Day. In keeping with the mayor’s workplace, the curfew applies to youth ages 16 and below, however the coverage’s timing varies based mostly on age group.

Ages 13 and below have a 9 p.m. curfew, whereas teenagers from 14-16 have an 11 p.m. curfew on weekends and holidays, in response to the town’s plan.

Baltimore referred to as the plan “a complete summer time engagement technique” to make sure younger folks “have a protected and fascinating summer time.” Summer season programming and occasions might be coordinated across the curfews, the town added. 

Final month, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott expanded the curfew’s dates after a number of incidents of violence involving younger folks, together with a taking pictures over Easter weekend, Baltimore Fishbowl reported.

If kids are discovered after hours, they are going to be inspired to go house or name their mum or dad or guardian earlier than being dropped at one of many metropolis’s two Youth Connection Facilities by non-law enforcement, the town’s plan mentioned. Dad and mom face fines of as much as $500. 

The coverage doesn’t apply to teenagers who’re both accompanied by a mum or dad or authorized guardian, exercising First Modification rights, driving in a motorcar, concerned in an emergency, or working a job or occasion, the town mentioned. 

In keeping with a police memorandum obtained by WJZ News, officers have been suggested that they’d not be concerned in implementing a lot of the curfew. “Enforcement of a juvenile curfew is important to safeguard and defend our Metropolis’s youth; nevertheless, the enforcement of the curfew isn’t supposed to result in an pointless improve in interactions between BPD and the Metropolis’s younger folks,” the paperwork mentioned.

“That’s the reason a majority of interactions — together with transportation to Youth Connection Facilities — might be dealt with by non-BPD Metropolis staff or third-party entities. This goal is in step with the Consent Decree’s objective of decreasing youth involvement with the juvenile and legal justice system.”

Police have been additionally instructed that they’d not cease teenagers or take them into custody solely for a curfew violation, the paperwork added. 

Baltimore started implementing a strict juvenile curfew in 2014, in response to WJZ Information. A 2016 coverage replace from the Baltimore Police Division mentioned the objective of the curfew was “to make sure our youngsters are given the right sources to stop them from changing into the victims or perpetrators of violent crime.” This coverage might be “up to date and amended to handle finest practices and different points which have arisen” lately.