RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Like Chicago and many other American cities, Baltimore has been grappling with teen takeovers becoming violent.
In the summer of 2023, city leaders faced mounting pressure after repeated teen gatherings downtown led to fights, assaults and other disorder around the Inner Harbor, while a mass shooting at Baltimore’s annual Brooklyn Day celebration that left two people dead and 28 others wounded intensified concerns about keeping young people safe during the summer.
City officials brainstormed, and came up with a plan that included relying on violence interruption teams comprising school staffers and volunteers from community groups to patrol downtown, and limiting police interaction with teens. The result?
“We saw a notable decrease in violence and crime in and around our downtown and inner harbor in the months that we have staff out there,” says Stefanie Mavronis, director of the Baltimore mayor’s office of neighborhood safety and engagement.
By the end of summer of 2023, youth-involved homicides dropped by 83% compared to the prior summer, according to Baltimore city data.
As Chicago struggles to find ways to rein in teen gatherings that become chaotic and violent, it can look to places like Baltimore for innovative approaches. Experts say a strategy that broadens summer activity choices and job opportunities can be far more effective than an over-reliance on law enforcement and punitive action.
At the heart of the challenge that teen takeovers pose is the balance between creating for teens living in crime-ravaged neighborhoods safe spaces to get together, while ensuring so-called “teen trends” that become violent don’t cast a pall on downtown commerce and tourism.
“Socially disadvantaged kids live in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty. I’ve interviewed them,” says Sara Thomas, a research assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University. “They have to stay home to avoid violence. They don’t have opportunities. That gets pretty frustrating.
“We are seeing a concerning lack of spaces where kids on the South and West Sides can gather,” Thomas adds. “My guess is that some of these kids — if they don’t think they’re going to grow up — [figure], `Why not try this risky thing?’ A bad idea that gets thrown out on TikTok suddenly becomes a good idea.”
The Sun-Times reached out to officials in several cities coping with teen trends. Here’s a look at those cities’ experiences:
In Baltimore, keeping teens ‘safe, keeping them engaged’
Baltimore has steered clear of expanded youth curfew in favor of its “two-fold strategy” that pairs a neighborhood safety and engagement office and more late-night activities for teens.
The city’s 25-week safety strategy over the summer includes violence interrupters who go out on weekends to patrol downtown. The teams are made up of some school staff, volunteers and community organizations “who work with our young people,” Mavronis said. Baltimore has prioritized limiting police interactions with teens.
“Our number one priority is keeping them safe, keeping them engaged and making sure at the end of the night everyone’s getting home safely,” Mavronis said.
The strategy, launched in 2023 and expanded last year, has so far worked, according to Mavronis.
A member of the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement speaks with a resident around the city’s Inner Harbor.
Provided by the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.
Earlier this spring, Baltimore officials learned through social media that a “teen takeover” was planned at the Inner Harbor. Before the advertised start time, outreach workers were already on the ground talking with arriving teens.
Those interactions are designed to go beyond crowd control. Outreach workers ask young people whether they have a safe way home, whether they need help finding jobs, mental health services or other support at home.
“Sometimes they’re surprised to see us,” Mavronis said of teens who encounter outreach workers during gatherings. “But we’re also not just engaging them. We’re connecting them with resources.”
Detroit’s tack — parental responsibility, safe spaces
Detroit uses a carrot-and-stick approach. They’ve added youth programming and ramped up curfew enforcement. The stick also applies to parents. Unlike Chicago, Detroit recently enacted a parental responsibility ordinance that fines parents $250 if their children are out after curfew and being disruptive or violent.
The “carrot” comes in the form of Mayor Mary Sheffield’s “Occupy the Summer” initiative, which offers free recreation, sports, arts programming and other organized activities aimed at giving teenagers safe places to spend their evenings and weekends. City officials say the goal is to make structured opportunities readily available before young people turn to social media-organized gatherings.
At the same time, Detroit has paired that investment with a renewed emphasis on curfew enforcement and parental responsibility. Police detain juveniles found violating the city’s curfew and issue citations to parents under the city’s longstanding parental responsibility ordinance if their children are out after curfew and involved in disruptive or violent behavior.
The curfew change, enacted last summer, now carries a $250 fine, with subsequent violations subject to higher penalties. That’s an increase from the previous $75 first-time fine.
DC’s get-tough approach draws blowback
Newly appointed U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a former judge, prosecutor and Fox News commentator, has increased enforcement of the district’s curfew law to prosecute parents who “facilitate, enable, or knowingly permit” their children to engage in “delinquent acts.”
Washington D.C. recently expanded the district’s curfew to apply to 17 year olds and weekend nights. It also now allows the district’s police chief to declare extended curfew zones in public areas where youn...
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