Prince George’s County, Md., Executive Angela Alsobrooks said that a curfew would go into effect for juveniles 17 and younger for 30 days, beginning Friday, to battle crime after one of the deadliest months in decades for the jurisdiction just outside Washington, D.C., the Washington Post reports. “You should know — and I believe this is absolutely astounding — that August was the single deadliest month in Prince George’s County’s history,” she said. The curfew — which is backed by civil penalties, including fines — will be in effect between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11:59 p.m. and 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Alsobrooks also lashed out at the county’s prosecutor, courts and families for what she said was a systemic failure to hold young people responsible for their dangerous, risky and sometimes criminal behavior.
Nearly two-thirds of the juveniles arrested by police for carjacking this year have prior criminal records, and half were 15 years old or younger, Alsobrooks said. She did not say whether those juveniles had been adjudicated or their charges dropped. Police Chief Malik Aziz echoed her frustration, saying officers have become caught up in a game of “catch and release” with people who are taken in on criminal charges but not kept in jail. Aziz acknowledged broad efforts to restructure policing and achieve more equitable justice since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis more than two years ago, but he suggested that the pendulum has swung too far with what he characterized as lenient treatment of certain criminal offenses.