Criminalizing DC Youth: The Politics of Curfews and the Need for Community Control

As DC officials consider a renewed juvenile curfew in the name of “public safety,” a familiar pattern is emerging: the criminalization of working-class Black youth and the expansion of state control over our communities. Curfews do not address the root causes of harm—lack of resources, disinvestment, and exclusion from decision-making. Instead, they give police broader authority to stop, surveil, and detain our youth simply for existing in public space. This Assata Shakur Study Group session will examine how curfew policies function as tools of social control, not solutions to violence. We will break down the political logic behind “tough on crime” approaches and expose how they shift responsibility away from the city and onto the youth themselves. At the same time, we will explore PACA’s vision for community control, one where residents, not police, have real decision-making power over safety, resources, and the conditions that shape our lives.

Food will be provided!