New Jersey lawmakers are working on a legislative package that would stiffen penalties for brawls organized by youths after a summer that saw throngs of teenagers start large-scale fights in public.
State lawmakers are working to advance three bills that would impose new penalties for inciting a public brawl, make parents liable for their children and equip law enforcement with crowd control training.
Last year, large crowds of young people instigated fights at the Jersey Shore and in inland municipalities. In one instance in Ocean City, Cape May County, on Memorial Day weekend, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed and hospitalized.
All of the bills, which are mostly sponsored by Democrats, were introduced in June. Two of the bills, S3506 and S3507, advanced Feb. 15 to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. A bill to increase liability for parents of unruly youth, S3508, was introduced in June but has not left the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee, records show.
State Sen. Paul Moriarty, D-4th Dist., the bills' lead sponsor, introduced the legislation after Gloucester Township, which falls in his district, saw an increase in crowds of youth last year.
“I don’t quite understand the desire of a bunch of people to want to get together and start pounding each other, but apparently, some people want to do that,” said Moriarty, a long-time assemblyman elected to the Senate last year.
The bills also have Assembly versions. Moriarty believes they have enough bipartisan support to get to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk before the summer Shore season.
“I think they should get to the governor’s desk by the end of March,” Moriarty told NJ Advance Media Monday.
Murphy’s office did not immediately return a request by NJ Advance Media for comment Tuesday.
The bills would strengthen penalties by establishing new punishments for those who incited a public brawl and parents who allowed their children to partake in a mass brawl. Penalties include prison time and fines of up to $1,000.
Margate, a seaside town in Atlantic County, began enforcing a similar local law last year after fights in Ocean City, Wildwood and Seaside Heights.
One of the bills would direct the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to form specific intervention training techniques for law enforcement tailored to juveniles. The program would benefit law enforcement in towns that have held at least two large-scale events in the past year that spawned violent crowds, according to a statement from lawmakers.
In a recent hearing in Trenton for the bills, Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins recounted last year’s Gloucester Township Day, a public event to raise money for college scholarships, that was disrupted when a crowd of around 500 teenagers began fighting.
The crowd of teens, some of who covered their faces, swelled around the time an inaugural drone light show began. The brawl also spurred changes to the event, which will now end at 6 p.m., ending a tradition of nighttime festivities, Harkins said.
At least three police officers working to control the violence were injured. Eleven people, including nine teens, were arrested in the immediate aftermath.
Harkins called the public disturbance “unlike anything I’ve seen in my 30 years as a police officer.
“We also believe that the parents and juveniles involved in this violent behavior were aware - some of them were aware - of how their children were dressing, that they were being dropped off to an event, and basically, they had to perceive that they were up to no good,” Harkins testified.
Stories by Eric Conklin
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Eric Conklin may be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com.