The Social Worker with a Gun

On Monday, Baltimore’s city council gave its preliminary
approval to an intrusive new curfew law. Luke Broadwater of The
Baltimore Sun
reports:

The legislation, approved 11-2,
calls for youngsters under 14 to be indoors year-round by 9 p.m.
Youths ages 14 through 16 could stay out until 10 on school nights
and 11 on other nights.

Currently, all children and teens younger than 17 can stay out
until 11 on weeknights and until midnight on weekends. Parents can
be fined up to $300 if their children are caught outside after
curfew.

The legislation increases penalties to $500, though they could be
waived if parents and children attend counseling sessions provided
by the city.

The measure does include exemptions for kids traveling to or
from certain approved activities, such as a school event or a job.
Of course, the police won’t necessarily know that’s why you’re out
of the house, so you can be coming home from work or a football
game and still be forced to show your ID and explain to an officer
why you’re using a public walkway.

The Sun quotes the bill’s sponsor, Councilman Brandon
Scott, claiming the law is for the children’s own good. “This bill
is not about arresting kids,” he reportedly said. “This bill is not
about dropping crime. It’s about connecting young people and their
families with the services they need.” That’s quite a euphemism,
isn’t it? “Connecting young people and their families with the
services they need” has a much friendlier ring than “first a cop
hassles you, then you have to see a counselor if you won’t pay a
steep fine.” It’s certainly true that a kid out late might be in
need of help—his family might be homeless, for example. But “help”
imposed at the end of a gun ceases to be assistance and starts to
be something else.

The bill will probably pass its final vote next month. Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has promised that if it comes to her desk,
she’ll sign it.

Bonus statistics: When Scott proposed the law last
year, the Sun
noted that “Gun violence in Baltimore involving juveniles has
been on a steep decline in recent years, though there has been an
uptick in 2013….Police arrest data show that juvenile arrests for
aggravated assault, drug abuse violations and larceny—the three
largest categories—are all down this year compared with the same
time last year, though robberies are up 65 percent and stolen car
arrests are up 52 percent.” Meanwhile, “Of the five youths killed
this year in city street violence, only one would have been
considered in violation of curfew at the time her killing
occurred.”