Shifts in Youth Violence and Guns
District Attorney David Hoovler sees more kids with guns. Port Jervis Police Chief William Worden sees more youth violence.
When a ten-year-old smashed a Port Jervis deli window at 3 a.m. last year, Port Jervis Police Chief William Worden said said he wondered why a ten-year-old was out at that hour. But the incident foreshadowed a surge in violent youth crimes in Port Jervis in the last year and an 18% increase in juvenile gun possession in Orange County cities—Port Jervis, Newburgh and Middletown. District Attorney David Hoovler discussed the trends at a Coffee with the D.A. event at Port Jervis Bagel Barn, attended by Worden and a few police officers. Port Jervis juvenile gun possession arrests doubled from six to 12 since last year, Hoovler said.
Over a recent two week period, three Port Jervis robberies involved teens, one with a pellet pistol, two that were strong arm, threatening or inflicting injury, Worden said. They occurred at 1 a.m., 3:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. AT 9:30 a.m. on September 7, a New Jersey Transit conductor was assaulted on an MTA platform. Damarion D. Gulley, 22, of Rockland County, was charged for hitting the conductor in the face multiple times with his fist and also with a railroad padlock, fracturing his jaw. Two juveniles, ages 13 and 15, have also been charged in the assault, Worden said.
Asked about the causes of this violence, he said, “Violence in social media, lack of accountability and lack of parental supervision.”
He recalled growing up in Port Jervis and being overseen not just by his parents but by his neighbors, who reported the misdeeds of neighborhood kids to their parents. When he misbehaved soon after getting his driver’s license, his car keys were taken away for a month.
But now curbing youth crime often falls to the courts, and the issue is surfacing nationally, Worden learned at a recent FBI training in Virginia.
“It’s been worse since the pandemic,” he said. “The Port Jervis youth detective is overwhelmed.”
“An entire group of kids had no socialization for sixteen months,” said Hoovler. “They had social media instead.”
“School is a bastion of structure. Kids learn how to adapt,” said Worden. “We have a strong relationship with schools—the principal, social workers and counselors—for proactive intervention. If a child doesn’t go to school, police visit the house. We try to address why kids are acting out and bring in services, not put kids in jail. It’s a holistic approach. At beginning stages, we bring in Child Protective Services and mental health assistance. We’re adding nonprofits.”
A 2015 article by Christopher Mallett in The Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal pointed to the importance of not criminalizing rebellious adolescent behavior.
But Port Jervis Patrolman Tyler Wagner said that youth are “drawn to disobedience, having weapons and money from selling drugs.”
Although juvenile weapons possession has been increasing in the three Orange County cities, it has not increased in towns and villages. More city youth crime involves guns, especially as adults pursuing criminal activities pass their guns to youth accomplices to carry, Hoovler said. The strategy has been revealed in court.
“An adult carrying a gun can go to prison for three and a half years, but a juvenile goes to family court and can be home for dinner. Family court is a carnival,” Hoovler said. “Kids are more daring. Anyone involved in crime knows juveniles go to family court.”
“We’ve put more focus on firearms because the 1/2% of the population with drugs and illegal guns commits 95% of crimes. The same people are released and rearrested,” Hoovler said.
As for access to firearms, he said, “So many guns are in the stream of commerce. There are 320 million guns in the U.S., more guns than people. People steal them from cars and get them from colleagues and burglaries.”
Keeping track of them after they’re stolen rarely happens.
“In 2006, Sam and Mabel’s gun shop in Port Jervis was broken into. One gun was recovered only years later,” Hoovler said. “More ghost guns are being recovered in Orange County. About 80% of illegal guns recovered in Orange County come from narcotics connections.”
Asked whether he opposed the 2018 “Raise the Age” legislation that increased the age when an offender can be charged as an adult from 16 to 18, he said, "In concept no. It was procedurally needed to give police, D.A.s and judges more discretion.”
Orange County Probation Director Tim Davidian has watched the rise in juvenile violence and gun possession.
“The increase is attributable to Raise the Age, Raise the Lower Age, bail reform and easy access to firearms and weapons,” he said in an email.
Raise the Lower Age legislation raised the age to 12 when a child could be arrested or prosecuted, except in homicide cases. Bail reform limited when suspects could be held for bail.
“Further complicating matters is the lack of Specialized Secure and regular Secure Detention beds throughout the state,” he said. “In Orange County, we take a comprehensive team approach to all youths and offer a variety of services for education, employment, skills building, counseling, substance abuse and mental health treatment. Outcomes vary from youth to youth. On the youth crime front, probation works collaboratively with the local police departments, sheriff's office and district attorney, with both community programming and targeted interventions. I would agree with Chief Worden that there is a trend toward younger offenders since December, 2022. December, 2022 is when Raise the Lower Age went into effect, where no youth under the age of 12 can be arrested; unless their behavior results in someone's death."
However, more limitations on who can be arrested and shortage of detention center space may have long term advantages for juvenile offenders.
“Kids who go to detention centers are likely to come back,” said Nicole McKenna, Assistant Professor in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It’s not conducive to healthy development. Then once they have a record, they’re more likely to be picked up for a minor offense. The biggest predictor of adult incarceration is previous youth detention—once in the system, staying out is difficult.”
McKenna interviewed youth in detention centers in Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and encountered youth who had returned 12 times.
Until age 25, the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which affects social behavior, decision-making and aggression, is not fully developed. Concurrent with this brain development transition, crime peaks between ages 18 and 21, then tends to decline, McKenna said. Trauma and socioeconomic challenge increase the likelihood of criminal behavior and arrest. While detention has tended to be counterproductive, being mentored, tutored and supported in finding employment, can be productive, she said.
Hoovler agrees, attributing youth crime to “lack of meaningful community programs for teens and young adults and lack of meaningful jobs with a decent wage.”
McKenna noted that employment can have positive and negative effects on youth crime, depending on how much time they spend working.
Some studies have found that employment can actually lead to an increased likelihood of engaging in crime because it can take time away from school or family, while others have found it to reduce crime, but it may depend on the number of hours worked, she said.
Hoovler emphasized identifying the reasons for misbehavior, providing interventions and, as last resort, detention.
“If juveniles commit offenses, they should be monitored, meet benchmarks and the reason for committing them identified by someone like a social worker. Some have no home life; some are rebelling; some are evil; some are lost. We try to intervene with all juvenile offenders. With first time offenders, we stress that family court find out what’s needed. If they re-offend, and it’s not just graffiti or shoplifting but carrying a firearm, institutionalization may be needed. But most juvenile locations are full.”
Even with firearms, the motivation can sometimes be addressed, Hoovler said: “Is it to be cool? Is it for a criminal enterprise? For protection?”
McKenna noted a steady decline in youth arrests since 2018 nationally and across the county with a small increase this year.
“The county has been following the national trend of of a decrease in youth arrests since 2018, with a small rise in youth index crime in 2023,” she said. “We will probably see an even bigger rise as the year comes to a close.”
The U.S. Department of Justice used a Japanese study to explain why crime is more likely to increase in urban areas: “(1) the degree of urbanization and population density, (2) the greater rates of migration and population growth in urban populations, and (3) the differences in demographic structures between urban and rural areas, urban areas having greater proportions of young people.”
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