D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said parents could face charges if their teenagers violate local curfews tied to teen gatherings in Washington.
D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Friday that her office plans to pursue charges against parents whose teenagers violate local curfews, casting the move as part of a broader response to large youth gatherings that officials have described as “teen takeovers.”
The warning marks an escalation in how federal prosecutors in the nation’s capital are seeking to address the gatherings, which have drawn concern in busy areas including the Navy Yard waterfront. Pirro announced the approach at a news conference called to discuss results from President Trump’s law enforcement surge in Washington, which launched last summer to reduce violent crime in the city.
“Law-abiding taxpayers should no longer have to pay for parental neglect,” Pirro said. “Parents: Do your job. Or we will do ours.”
Pirro said her office intends to enforce local statute 22-811, which covers contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She said the office is barred from prosecuting teenagers themselves for curfew violations because those cases are handled by the local attorney general’s office.
“That does not preclude me from bringing charges against the parents,” Pirro told reporters.
The curfew issue has been especially prominent around Navy Yard, where Mayor Muriel Bowser has imposed a series of juvenile curfews requiring people under 18 to be out of the area by 11 p.m. The restrictions followed flash mob-style gatherings involving large groups of teenagers, some of which escalated and prompted public safety concerns.
It was not immediately clear from the announcement how broadly Pirro’s office will apply the statute, what threshold prosecutors will use before seeking charges against a parent, or when the first such cases could be filed. The next test will be whether the warning leads to prosecutions — and how local officials, families and the courts respond.
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