Maryland Curfew Laws: Hours, Exceptions, and Penalties

Maryland curfew laws work through local ordinances rather than a single statewide rule. State law sets a default curfew window of midnight to 5:00 a.m. and lets counties and municipalities decide whether to adopt an ordinance and how strict to make it. Baltimore City has the most detailed rules in the state; some jurisdictions have none at all. Where you live determines what applies to your teenager.

How Maryland’s State Framework Works

The enabling statute for juvenile curfews sits in the Local Government Article, Title 11, Subtitle 3. It doesn’t impose a curfew on its own. Instead, it authorizes counties and municipalities to pass ordinances and defines “curfew hours” as midnight to 5:00 a.m. as the baseline anyone adopting a curfew under this subtitle starts from.¹

Local governments can go stricter, add earlier hours for younger minors, or set separate weekday and weekend rules. What they cannot do is drop the exceptions or the enforcement procedure the state statute requires. Those apply everywhere a curfew ordinance is adopted under this subtitle.

Baltimore City Nighttime Curfew

Baltimore’s nighttime curfew reaches younger and covers a wider age range than the state default. It splits minors into two brackets:

Children under 14 cannot be in any public place or establishment between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., every day of the week.
Minors ages 14 through 16 are subject to curfew restrictions that vary by season, with different hours from the Friday before Memorial Day through the last Sunday in August than during the rest of the year.

The curfew applies to minors under 17, not under 18.² That trips up a lot of parents. A 17-year-old in Baltimore is not subject to the nighttime curfew at all.

Baltimore City Daytime Curfew

Baltimore also enforces a daytime curfew targeting school-age children during school hours. No minor under 16 may be in a public place or establishment between 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on any day they are required to be in school.³

The exceptions are narrow. A minor is exempt if they have written proof from school authorities excusing their attendance, are accompanied by a parent or someone at least 21 years old, or are traveling to or from school. When a minor is picked up during school hours, Baltimore’s protocol sends them to their school, a Youth Connection Center, or home, and parents are notified.³

Curfews Outside Baltimore City

Many Maryland jurisdictions have never adopted a juvenile curfew, and proposals don’t always survive. Montgomery County considered an ordinance in 2011 that would have restricted minors under 18 from being in public between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. on weeknights and 12:01 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. on weekends. After extended public debate, the County Council voted to table the bill, and it never took effect.⁴

Prince George’s County went a different direction. In 2024, the County Council passed a resolution allowing targeted juvenile curfews for people under 17 in designated commercial zones. The hours cannot begin before 5:00 p.m. or extend past 5:00 a.m. Business owners in an affected zone must first obtain a letter of support from their local Council Member before applying for a curfew designation, and the curfew does not apply to minors accompanied by an authorized adult.⁵

If you live somewhere other than Baltimore City or Prince George’s County, check with your local government to find out whether a curfew ordinance is on the books. Many places have none.

Exceptions Every Local Ordinance Must Honor

Maryland’s state statute lists ten situations in which a curfew ordinance does not apply. Any jurisdiction that adopts a curfew under the state enabling law must respect all of them. A minor is exempt when:

Accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Running an errand for a parent or guardian, without detours, until 12:30 a.m.
With an authorized adult the parent has designated to have temporary care of the minor in a specified area.
Traveling interstate with parental consent.
Working or commuting to or from a job. The statute does not require the minor to carry employer documentation.
Responding to an emergency involving health, safety, or property.
On the sidewalk next to the minor’s residence, or next to a neighbor’s home if the neighbor has given permission.
Attending or returning from a supervised school, religious, or recreational activity, or a public entertainment event like a movie or sporting event.
Exercising First Amendment rights, provided the minor has submitted a written notice to the local law enforcement chief specifying when, where, and how they will be in a public place during curfew hours.
Out for a reason of reasonable necessity, if the parent has communicated the facts to the local law enforcement chief, including the specific location and travel route.⁶

Baltimore’s nighttime curfew tracks most of these but uses slightly different language. It exempts minors accompanied by a parent, engaged in employment, involved in an emergency, exercising First Amendment rights, attending supervised activities, involved in interstate travel, or on the sidewalk near their home, provided the neighbor hasn’t complained to police about the minor’s presence.²

What Happens During a Curfew Stop

The state statute lays out a specific enforcement sequence officers must follow when they believe a minor is violating a curfew ordinance. It starts with a warning, not a citation.

The officer tells the minor they are in violation of the curfew.
The officer asks for the minor’s name, address, and phone number, along with contact information for a parent or guardian.
The officer issues a written warning and orders the minor to go home promptly.

For a first encounter, that is usually the end of it. The law enforcement agency must also send written notice of the violation to the parent or guardian.⁷

Repeat encounters escalate. If a minor has already received a written warning, an officer may take the minor home or transport them to a local law enforcement station or a designated curfew center. An officer may also take a minor into custody if there are reasonable grounds to believe the minor has committed a separate delinquent act beyond the curfew violation itself.⁷ Federal law prohibits holding juvenile status offenders in secure detention facilities, so a minor picked up solely for a curfew violation cannot be locked in a jail cell.

In Baltimore, minors stopped during nighttime curfew hours may be taken to a Youth Connection Center, where staff contact parents and decide the next step.³

Penalties for a Curfew Violation

Under the state framework, officers can issue civil citations to three different parties for a curfew violation: the minor, the parent or guardian, and the owner or employee of an establishment that allowed the minor to remain on its premises during curfew hours.⁷ The specific fine amounts depend on the local ordinance. Fines for parents generally climb from modest sums for a first offense to several hundred dollars for repeat violations.

Parental accountability is where these laws have teeth. A parent who knowingly lets a minor violate curfew can face their own citation, separate from anything the minor receives. The design assumes parents bear primary responsibility for supervising their children during restricted hours.

Practical Advice for Parents and Minors

If your teenager works late shifts, attends evening events, or has other legitimate reasons to be out during curfew hours, keep some form of documentation on hand. A work schedule, a signed note, or a text from a parent confirming an errand can defuse a police encounter quickly. The law doesn’t always require written proof, but having it makes the exception obvious on the spot.

The First Amendment exception under the state statute is worth taking seriously. If your teenager plans to attend a late-night vigil, protest, or religious event during curfew hours, submitting the required written notice to the local police chief in advance eliminates the risk of a citation.

Remember that a first curfew stop under the state framework produces a written warning, not a fine. That warning matters. A second stop allows the officer to take the minor into custody rather than simply order them home, so treat the initial warning letter as a signal to fix whatever recurring situation is putting your child in a public place during restricted hours.

1
FindLaw. Maryland Code Local Government 11-301 – Definitions
2
Baltimore City Law Library. Baltimore City Code Article 19 – Prohibited Conduct of Minors, Nighttime Curfew
3
Baltimore City Law Library. Baltimore City Code Article 19 – Subtitle 34, Minors, Daytime and Nighttime Curfews
4
Montgomery County, Maryland. Montgomery Council Tables Bill on Proposed Youth Curfew
5
Prince George’s County Council. Council Passes Juvenile Curfew Resolution as Curfew Bill Proceeds
6
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Local Government Code Section 11-305 – Applicability of Curfew Ordinance
7
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Local Government 11-306 – Violation of Juvenile Curfew Ordinance