Mayor Muriel Bowser has put out an executive order establishing a nightly juvenile curfew and allowing police to declare curfew zones.
Starting Friday and through June 6, the nightly curfew for all District of Columbia minors will run from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day.
The order issued Friday also allows the Metropolitan Police Department to impose juvenile curfew zones where juveniles are not allowed to gather in groups of nine or more for a set amount of time. The police have already imposed new zones for Memorial Day weekend.
From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, curfew zones will be in effect in Navy Yard, along the waterfront in Southwest, along the U Street corridor in Northwest and near Howard University and the former building for Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Northwest, the police said in an announcement Friday.
So far in 2026, the Metropolitan Police Department has declared 19 curfew zones, each lasting no more than three days, with only nine violations recorded, per the mayoral order.
There are several situations and activities that exempt a minor from curfew zone rules, including accompanying a parent, running errands, going to or returning from work and First Amendment activity.
Ms. Bowser issued the executive order to make up a legislative gap that would have otherwise left the city without its strengthened curfew policies.
The D.C. Council has passed legislation that would permanently allow for the police to create temporary juvenile curfew zones, but the law does not go into effect until at least July 16. The law’s final effective date depends on the congressional review process.
The previous Juvenile Curfew Emergency Amendment Act of 2025 expired on April 15, which led Ms. Bowser to issue a similar executive order that expired on May 1.
Just over two weeks later, a brawl broke out at a Chipotle in Navy Yard between several masked youths who fought and threw chairs at each other, an incident mentioned specifically by the mayor’s office in its background information for Friday’s executive order.
Rafael Jauregui, who was eating at the Chipotle with his children following a baseball game at nearby Nationals Park, described the incident as an “ambush.
Anyone who violates the newly imposed curfews will be fined up to $300 or imprisoned for up to 10 days.
Parents and guardians can violate the curfew law if “he or she knowingly permits, or by insufficient control allows, the minor to remain in a public place or on the premises of any establishment within the District during curfew hours.”
The owners and operators of stores, restaurants and other establishments will also be considered curfew violators if they allow barred minors on their premises while a city curfew is in effect.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro also wants to hold parents accountable. Ms. Pirro wants to fine parents and guardians $500 for each curfew violation by their child, and to charge them with contributing to the delinquency of a minor if their child commits a crime.
A sentence on those charges carries prison time of up to six months. Ms. Pirro said that she is “not shy” about trying to jail the parents of curfew violators.
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