TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River officials are looking into whether they can reinstate a Murphy pandemic-era teen curfew in the town’s seaside communities of Ortley Beach, Normandy Beach, Chadwick and Ocean Beach.
This comes after residents complained of rowdy teenagers during the extended Memorial Day weekend in May.
If proposed, the 9 pm to 5 am curfew for teenagers would be the harshest curfew in New Jersey. In fact, it would be worse than curfews currently imposed in crime-ridden cities such as Paterson, Camden, Elizabeth, Newark and Trenton.
According to the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA), most major American cities have teen curfews. The majority of curfews begin at 11 pm. Many begin at 10 pm. Toms River officials want the teen curfew to begin at 9 pm, which would make it the strictest teen curfew law on the books in America if passed.
During the pandemic, Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill enacted a 9 pm curfew, utilizing the power of Governor Phil Murphy’s pandemic executive order to enforce the curfew during a period of national emergency.
If reinstated, the Hill curfew would impose the harshest restrictions against children anywhere in America, including some of the country’s deadliest cities. At last weekend’s township council meeting, Council President Kevin Geoghegan, a former Toms River police officer, said the town would look into bringing back the pandemic curfew ordinance.
Baltimore, which has multiple murders each day, has a teen curfew that runs from 12-am to 6 am on weekends and 11 pm to 6 am on weekdays. Los Angeles’ curfew runs from 10 pm to sunrise.
Chicago has a weekend curfew that starts at 10 pm on weekdays and 11 pm on weekends. 400 cities across America impose teen curfews, according to the NYRA.
The National Youth Rights Association was formed in 1998 by a group of young people who wanted to challenge the age discrimination and prejudice they were experiencing. Realizing that ageism is similar to other forms of oppression, they started NYRA as a youth-led civil rights organization in the hope of emulating other successful rights organizations that have pushed us to a more just world. Meet the team that continues that work today.
We reached out to Toms River officials today, who did not immediately reply.