Stricter punishment for NJ juvenile offenders sought
Officials push for reforms amid rising youth-driven crime wave
EDISON – A North Edison woman said she sleeps in fear every night after an attempted burglary at her home by three juveniles last summer.
It was 4 a.m. last August when the juveniles took off her deck door and were almost inside her home when she heard the alarm ring. She came running downstairs, which scared them off and the incident was caught on a home camera system. The teens were never caught, and she continues to feel unsafe in her home, and wakes up every time she hears a sound, she said.
“Even if they were caught, they are let off the next day because they’re kids but it’s clear if you can commit the crime then you should face the punishment,” said Kiran, a 12-year township resident who declined to give her last name out of fear for her safety.
During a news conference Monday at the new police substation in North Edison, Mayor Sam Joshi, who has called for stricter penalties for juvenile offenders, said New Jersey has seen a huge rise in home invasions and burglaries by juveniles in the last 18 months, and victims deserve justice.
Earlier Monday the third suspect in a March 15 assault and attempted carjacking at an Oak Tree Road grocery store was apprehended in Rahway, according to Police Chief Thomas Bryan. The 17-yearold male is expected to face similar charges to the two other juveniles who were previously arrested in connection with the crime and remanded to the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center. The teen’s father also was arrested for hindering his
son’s apprehension, Bryan said.
Kaushik Patel, owner of Patel Brothers, the Oak Tree Road grocery store whose son was the victim in the attempted carjacking, said police are doing their jobs but the laws need to be changed.
“New Jersey needs to stop coddling its criminals,” said Joshi, who has spoken to legislators from the 18th District and anticipates they will be introducing legislation addressing the issue.
“Mayors take this personally because we hear from the victims. I listen to tearing mothers and children literally on a weekly basis. The problem hits home for us,” Joshi said.
The mayor announced two objectives. The first, juveniles that commit a crime should be held accountable in the same county court where they commit the crime so victims should not have to travel hours away only for the offenders to be let off the hook. Secondly, the classification of a home invasions and burglaries needs to change, and shouldn’t be simply theft or trespassing, but taken more seriously.
Joshi last week met with the state Attorney General, police chiefs and mayors from throughout Middlesex County and the sentiment was the same, that the law needs to change.
Joshi pointed to a flow chart from the Office of the Attorney General’s website, which shows how juvenile crime is handled in New Jersey.
“This flow chart is the problem. Juveniles get let off the hook,” Joshi said. “In nearly every single scenario except for murder or homicide juveniles will end up in Family Court and they will get right back out on the street. The overwhelming amount of the crimes that occur here in Edison, or Marlboro or most of Middlesex County and most of New
Jersey have been committed by juveniles and our laws need to be stricter.”
He said much has been done in Edison to deter crime, including hiring more police and having more officers on the street, implementing more than 80 license plate readers and using other advanced technology, in addition to the new substation.
Chief Bryan said the substation, an Office of Emergency Management Office trailer borrowed from Middlesex County, will be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The township is looking to obtain its own facility or a storefront, to ensure the police department has a presence in the north end of town.
Bryan said the home invasions and vehicle burglaries are targeted at obtaining vehicle key fobs of high-end cars, mostly BMWs, many owned by North Edison residents. Many of the offenders are from Essex County.
“State lawmakers need to wake up and embrace the fact that juveniles need to be held accountable,” Joshi said.
Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik, an attorney, said he’s very angry that a news conference has to be held when the solution is clear – hold criminals responsible for what they are doing.
“The people in Monmouth County and throughout the state of New Jersey are not safe in their homes and there is a solution out there. The solution is to hold minors who are a part of organized crime, who are being organized to break into homes to steal cars and do other things, should be held responsible as adults,” said Hornik, adding every person on the state level knows this problem exists, but yet no action has been taken.
“Don’t people deserve to be safe in their homes. What are we doing. It is nuts that I have to come up from Monmouth County and speak to cameras to try to get the government to do what it is supposed to do,” Hornik said. “We need to hold these minors in these cases responsible as adults.”
Hornik said the Attorney General’s flow chart shows there is “no consequence” for juvenile offenders. He said the number one priority for mayors is to keep resident safe, and this keeps him up at night.
Pat Colligan, the state PBA president, which represents about 32,000 members, said both the juveniles who commit these crimes and the organized crime groups that employ the youths need to be held responsible because neighborhoods are being terrorized by criminals trying to obtain vehicle key fobs.
“This is not a minor spike in crime, this is a crisis,” he said.