Stopped by police in the District of Columbia: Family Court, the 11 p.m. curfew, and sealing a juvenile record

DC is one city government, so the DC Council passed a single Juvenile Curfew Act that applies from Georgetown to Deanwood. It covers anyone under 18 who is not married or legally emancipated. The base hours in the Code are 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights, and 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings; in July and August the curfew starts at 12:01 a.m. every night.

The law also lets the Mayor or the Chief of Police set 'extended youth curfew zones', neighborhoods with earlier hours. The current version of this part expires at the end of 2028, so the hours can change.

The exceptions (an emergency, being with a parent, and others) are in Title 2, Chapter 15 of the DC Code. Read them before you need them.

In DC, a 'child' for court purposes is anyone under 18. A child who breaks the law is charged with a 'delinquent act' and the case goes to the Family Court of the Superior Court; the law's stated goal there is rehabilitation.

Two doors lead to adult court. First, the DC Code says a 16- or 17-year-old charged by the United States Attorney with murder, first degree sexual abuse, first degree burglary, armed robbery, or assault with intent to commit one of those is not treated as a 'child' at all; the case starts in adult court. Second, the District's Attorney General can ask a Family Court judge to 'transfer' a case (move it to adult court) if the young person was 15 or older and the charge would be a felony for an adult. The judge must hold a hearing and weigh the child's age, record, mental condition, and prospects for rehabilitation. For the most serious charges the law presumes transfer.

The federal floor here is In re Gault (1967). The Supreme Court held that a young person in juvenile court has a right to notice of the charges, a lawyer, and the chance to question witnesses, the same basic fairness an adult gets.

The DC Code lets a person ask the Family Court to seal a juvenile case two years after the final discharge from custody or supervision, as long as there has been no new conviction or delinquency finding and no case is pending. Sealing is strong in DC: the law says the case is treated as if it never happened, and the court, the police, and you may all answer that no record exists.

Even before sealing, the Code says a juvenile does not have to disclose a delinquency history on an application for a job, school, or housing, and has the right to refuse.