Washington, D.C. police are putting in place a “juvenile curfew zone” this weekend in Navy Yard, an area in the south of the capital where young people usually gather.
The zone covers the baseball stadium, Nationals Park, a number of community recreation centers, schools, restaurants, and bars. Teenagers under the age of 17 caught violating the curfew could be ordered to do up to 25 hours of community service unless they’re taking part in exempted activities.
The law authorizing the curfew states that any adult who “knowingly permits, or by insufficient control” violates the Juvenile Curfew Act could face a fine of as much as $500 or community service.
The implementation of the curfew comes after President Donald Trump launched his crime crackdown in the nation’s capital. He has taken control of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and activated the National Guard on the city’s streets.
Navy Yard has seen a number of violent crimes in recent years involving young people. In 2021, two teens, aged 13 and 15, carjacked an Uber driver using a stun gun, leading to the man flipping his car and subsequently dying from his injuries.
In July, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the Juvenile Curfew Emergency Amendment Act of 2025, giving her the authority to establish curfew zones for 90 days.
D.C. police will begin enforcing the curfew in Navy Yard on Friday, pointing to safety concerns regarding large gatherings of young people. Police Chief Pamela Smith announced the plan Thursday, arguing that the targeted curfew aims to prevent situations that risk public safety.
The curfew will be in place from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. each night from Friday, August 15, until Monday, August 18. Within the Navy Yard curfew zone, juveniles cannot gather in groups of nine or more in public spaces or on business premises unless they’re taking part in exempted activities.
Exemptions include being accompanied by a parent, running an errand at the direction of a parent without taking a detour, working or returning home from work, being involved in an emergency, standing on a sidewalk near their home, attending school or religious activities, or exercising their First Amendment rights.
The juvenile curfew covering all of D.C. between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. will remain in effect through August 31.
The number of federal troops on the streets of Washington is set to increase as Trump pushes for an extension to the federal takeover of the city, even as crime is hitting a 30-year low.
Trump said Monday that he was putting the D.C. police department under the control of federal authorities and deploying the National Guard to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.”
National Guard troops began appearing on the streets of the capital Tuesday night. In total, roughly 800 troops are being deployed.
While the takeover of Washington’s law enforcement is supposed to last for 30 days, Trump said in a Wednesday speech at the Kennedy Center that he wants to extend that timeframe.
“If it’s a national emergency, we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be before Congress very quickly,” said Trump.
“We are going to do something and it's going to serve as a beacon for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other places all over the country,” the president added.
While Trump claimed Monday that Washington “has been taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people,” the violent crime rate decreased by 35 percent last year following a spike in 2023, D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office said in January.
The office noted that violent crime was at its lowest point in three decades, with homicides decreasing by 32 percent; robberies decreasing by 39 percent; armed carjacking going down by 53 percent; and assaults with a dangerous weapon decreasing by 27 percent.
On Wednesday, D.C. police said violent crime this year is down 26 percent. Bowser has slammed the federal takeover as “unsettling and unprecedented,” arguing that it’s “authoritarian.”
