This summer, communities across upstate New York have seen apparent spikes in youth crime. As officials grapple with the best ways to move forward, some criminal justice advocates worry strategies being discussed are little more than Band-aids.
Typically, throughout August the Canajoharie Gorge would be busy with folks trying to cool off – but a Montgomery County swimming hole, known locally as “the boiling pot,” has been closed by the Village Board.
Earlier this month, they voted, in an executive session not open to the public, to shut down the spot at the behest of public safety officials.
“I’m all for having [the gorge] open, but the fact of the matter is we had a couple of weeks where we had a spike of issues there which resulted in many arrests,” said Raymond Renzi.
Village of Canajoharie Police Chief Raymond Renzi said in the month leading to the closure of the boiling pot, his officers made a dozen arrests linked to fights and DWIs.
Notably, public access to the downstream Wintergreen Park has not been impacted, though that hasn’t stopped some local residents from being frustrated.
A change.org petition to reconsider the closure has nearly 1,500 signatures, and residents say the decision should have had public input.
“So, the reported incidents that we have, it’s generally teens. Mid-teenage kids that are causing some of the issues. There have been people in their low-to-mid-twenties that have been arrested and some in their mid-forties as well,” said Renzi.
Village officials ensure that the closure is temporary – it will remain in effect through the remainder of 2026 and, with public input throughout the colder months, could be lifted ahead of next summer.
“I just think we have to get some kind of plan in place. As far as the location of it, it’s going to be difficult. We’re talking about a gorge that is near vertical and requires a lot of effort to even get up and down it and also patrol it and get eyes on it,” said Renzi.
Chief Renzi said it's important to hold parents accountable for their children’s actions. He says he’d recommend a model that gives alleged juvenile offenders an initial warning, followed by a ticket, and beyond that holds parents to account.
Village Mayor Ron Dievendorf says Canajoharie has its work cut out.
“At this time, it’s both of those things; public safety and opening the pot. We can’t do one without recognizing and addressing the other,” said Dievendorf.
As Canajoharie officials consider how best to move forward, a little ways north Gloversville city officials are considering a juvenile curfew after a summer that has seen several startling cases of youth violence.
Officials are hosting a public conversation on the proposed measure Thursday at 7 p.m. – unaccompanied minors would be under curfew from 10 p.m. through 5 a.m., with some exemptions for work, school, or religious activities as well as emergencies.
Problematic teen violence isn't isolated to the Mohawk Valley. After a series of incidents last summer, leaders in the Albany County proposed legislation that would have had parents attend in-person or online classes if their children were found guilty of crimes.
But the bi-partisan measure was recently withdrawn following sustained public opposition.
Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Ta-Sean Murdock says punitive measures take the wrong approach to the issue of youth delinquency.
“What we see is rooms of adults arguing over young people, but there are yet no young people in the room to say, ‘hey, this is what I need. These are the services that you know can support me or help me.’ Or ‘hey, how can we build better relationships to keep you out of trouble?’ Adding a curfew, you know, adding parental responsibility laws, all of those things are just temporary band-aids that are not actually addressing the root causes of the issues that we're talking about,” said Murdock.
Aside from getting youth investment and input, Murdock says supporting families will be a vital step for any community looking to lower youth crimes.
“We need to make sure that the standards or the processes for how youth services are enacted actually enact when families reach out for s for services and support and those services step up, that needs to happen. We can't s hold parents accountable for a system that halfway works. And when they call for support, the services are not actually available to them when needed,” said Murdock.
New York State’s Raise the Age law has come under scrutiny during discussions of alleged youth offenders – the regulations made it so 16- and 17-year-olds could no longer be charged as adults for most crimes. And, importantly, it outlined state funding for programs and services to keep adolescents out of the criminal justice system.
But advocates and officials across the state have maligned the structure of the reimbursements -- and a 2025 report by the New York state comptroller found of the $1.71 billion appropriated through the year at that time, only $658.8 million had been dispersed.
Murdock says more needs to be done to restructure the funding that comes from the 2017 law.
“Here in Albany County, a good portion of the raise the age funding that is received goes to the department of probation. The department of probation is not proactive, right? It's meant to be punitive in nature. When a parent is having an issue with their child or a child commits a criminal act, they are more than likely placed on probation, right? And when all the funding that is received is directed towards that, and a limited amount is directed towards youth services and youth programming, then if I was a person who said, ‘yeah, we went through all of this back and forth on raise the age and the legislation,’ and I'm still not seeing any outcome from it, yeah, I would question it too,” said Murdock.
