FBI Office in NJ Alerts Public to Youth Crime Epidemic, What Laws Say!

DEBARYLIFE – Law enforcement officials have observed a troubling trend in New Jersey: minors are being employed more often to steal cars.

Juveniles are being taken advantage of due to their age, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge James Dennehy of Newark.

“They are being targeted intentionally due to their juvenile status,” Dennehy stated in a recent interview with New Jersey 101.5. “Because law enforcement finds it to be safe.”

The ability of law enforcement to tackle adolescent criminality has been a source of frustration and anger for many municipal mayors.

Following a string of violent crimes in Edison involving minors, Mayor Sam Joshi attacked the existing legal framework.

“We must give the rise in juvenile criminality our immediate attention. Too frequently, criminals get freed from prison with no repercussions, even though our fantastic police force is working nonstop to apprehend those guilty for their crimes, Joshi added. “State policy and inaction are undermining and compromising our police department and courts.”

Numerous Juvenile Offenders Released

Even if police can apprehend a minor who is suspected of stealing a car, breaking into a house, robbing someone, or committing any other crime, the minor is typically released until their family court trial.

Judges evaluate whether to release a defendant before trial based on a risk-based assessment, as per the bail reforms implemented by former Governor Chris Christie. The age of the defendant is one of the considerations. All save the most extreme circumstances result in a release.

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According to Dennehy of the FBI, criminals are well aware of the law.

The reason they are outperforming us is that we lack the necessary federal laws, legislation, and willingness to prosecute minors under federal law. That might be an option available to many local prosecutors, according to Dennehy.

The law as it exists in New Jersey now does not always support that.

Reforms have not been enacted by lawmakers quickly.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee examined possible reforms to the present system at an hours-long meeting in March.

Vin Gopal, a Democrat from Monmouth who chairs the committee, asked other senators to work on striking a compromise between judicial reform and holding offenders accountable.

Gopal stated, “I have to find a way to reassure my constituents that, in the event of an arrest, the offender will not return to their neighborhood within a week.”

Giving judges more latitude in deciding whether to release a defendant is one potential remedy.

Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican from Union, has advocated for harsher punishments for those who commit a new offense while being held pending trial.

No laws

No reform legislation is on the verge of being passed, despite the lengthy congressional hearing and the entreaties of local mayors.

Mayors such as Sam Joshi find that unacceptable.

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“We need to have a deterrent at this point, and that deterrent is fear of the consequences,” Joshi stated. And that’s actually where we need to scale back the actions we’re currently taking to make them more doable in the long run.

To pressure Attorney General Matt Platkin of New Jersey to act, Joshi and other mayors have also spoken with him.

Before things get better, they can get worse. Special Agent Dennehy gave a somber appraisal.

According to Dennehy, “People are growing more and more brazen, starting with young people, and they’re getting away with it.”

Because they aren’t being held appropriately accountable, violent offenders—many of whom have committed numerous felonies—continue their activities.

That is Dennehy’s “biggest concern” as a law enforcement officer.

“It’s so blatant,” Dennehy remarked. “They just go out and do it again and again and again.”