NEWARK, New Jersey – When Newark officials noticed a recent increase in violent crime in their city, they were especially concerned about teenagers, both as perpetrators and victims.
They turned to an outdated idea to keep young people out of trouble: a nightly curfew that had been in place since 1992 but had largely gone unenforced.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” Mayor Ras Baraka said in a recent interview. “The things we do in Newark are sometimes because we have no other choice. “Other municipalities may not experience the problems we are experiencing.”
The rules prohibit most unsupervised youth from venturing more than 100 yards from home between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. For the past few weeks, the city has imposed a curfew on Friday and Saturday nights. After school ends for the summer, it will also apply during weekdays. The rules apply to anyone under 18 years of age.
Baraka, a Democrat who will run for governor next year, has heard growing concerns from residents who have encountered young people on the streets late at night, “at times that seem scandalous to me, like the 1st or 2nd of early morning,” he said. .
Sometimes, he said, minors who go out late at night have run away from home. And in some cases, he said, public safety officials believe youth are being led by adults in criminal enterprises. “Adults are using these minors in incidents,” she said. “We want to disrupt that.”
Newark, New Jersey’s largest city with a population of more than 300,000, has seen a 13% increase in violent crime through mid-May compared to the same period last year, according to Newark Public Safety Collaborative, a group based at Rutgers. University that analyzes public safety data. Property crimes have decreased overall, but car theft has increased by 46%.
Two of the most high-profile recent crimes involved young victims, although they did not occur late at night.
Last fall, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the shoulder outside Central High School in Newark after students were evacuated due to a gas leak. Police said the shooter was passing by in a car.
In March, two teenagers were injured in a shooting outside West Side High School in Newark; a third person was injured while fleeing the scene.
In recent months, Newark teenagers have been involved in incidents involving gun possession and riding in stolen cars, city officials said.
Youth curfews enacted to deter crime date back to the late 19th century. The National Youth Rights Association has counted 400 laws of this type in force throughout the country. Last year, Baltimore and a dozen other cities or counties enacted or brought them back, according to The Marshall Project.
In Newark, early progress has been slow. The first weekend of the curfew he killed three violators. During the second weekend, officers picked up only one 11-year-old girl with autism who had run away from her home in nearby East Orange, New Jersey. In the third week, they brought a minor to her parents’ house.
City officials say their curfew enforcement is significantly different than decades ago. “We’re figuring out ways to make it more community-based and less police-driven,” said Lakeesha Eure, Newark’s deputy mayor for public safety.
First-time offenders are taken home or, if no adults are there, they are taken to the Newark Reintegration Center, which recently opened to connect youth with educational and employment opportunities. Counselors there can call home and arrange for parents or guardians to pick them up.
Second-time offenders are taken directly to the Reentry Center. Three or more violations result in teens and their families being referred to the state Office of Child Protection and Permanency.
No one is chased through the streets or arrested solely for violating curfew, Eure said. A visit to the Re-Engagement Center works well for some. Two young people picked up the first weekend of the curfew filled out applications for summer employment, she said. “Some need very basic things, like food, clothing or bus tickets.”
“The ultimate goal is to turn nothing into something, to turn risk into opportunity,” Eure said.
The new policy has not been universally adopted, not even by adults.
“We firmly believe that young people should always have the right to be in public with their friends or family,” said Sarah Fajardo, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. The curfew, she said, “is directed at them because of their status as young people, not because of any criminal behavior.”
Fajardo acknowledged that Newark had worked to focus on non-punitive security efforts. But, he said, “interactions with police can escalate, and that can happen quickly and can have lasting implications.”
Ironbound Community Corp., a local social services group, opposes the curfew for similar reasons. “We are concerned that every time we expose our youth to the police,” said María López-Núñez, its deputy director of organizing and advocacy. “It often leads to bad experiences.”
There is also significant debate about the effectiveness of nighttime curfews in combating criminal activity. In 2022, the National Juvenile Justice Center reported that violent crimes committed by youth peaked after 3 p.m., hours before curfews begin, and decreased hour by hour until 5 a.m.
On a recent afternoon at the Newark Re-Engagement Center, Baraka was playing basketball with two 16-year-olds, Tymir Wilson and Jarvin Bautista. They were both there because of conflicts at school. Instead of dropping out, they were sent to the center to finish the semester. In the fall, they will enroll in new high schools.
Both said they appreciated the opportunity to finish the school year in a more relaxed environment, where they can complete their schoolwork in a space equipped with counselors, free snacks and old-school Pac-Man machines. But as much as the teens love hanging out there, neither of them could get much support for the curfew.
“Kids will do whatever they want, no matter what time it is,” Jarvin said.
Tymir agreed. “I don’t think it will do much good,” he said. As teenagers, “we’re still going to do our thing.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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