The number of teenagers arrested with guns in New York City has surged 19% so far this year, even as police report progress in some areas of youth violence, according to new data.
NYPD figures show that 423 people under 18 have been arrested this year, compared with 355 during the same period in 2025.
At the same time, 76 juveniles have been shot this year—down 19% from the 93 recorded during the comparable period in 2025.
The 2026 total is also slightly below the 78 juveniles shot in 2024, the data show.
The number of young people accused of shooting someone has fallen 11% this year. So far, 83 juveniles have shot another person, compared with 93 during the same period last year.
However, the figure remains 6% higher than it was two years ago, when 78 juveniles were recorded as having pulled the trigger.
Police blame the continuing problem in part on New York’s 2017 “Raise the Age” law, which critics describe as soft on crime and which requires juvenile offenders to be housed separately from adults in correctional facilities.
Combined with laws that make certain offenses ineligible for cash bail, the policy means judges generally send juveniles to the city’s primary detention centers only when they are accused of the most serious crimes.
“They’ve been sending the message for years that you’re not going to go to jail if you get caught with a loaded gun,” said retired NYPD Assistant Commissioner of Youth Strategies Kevin O’Connor. “It’s not only the guns, it’s the felony assaults with weapons.”
The NYPD says it is using several tactics to curb youth crime, including creating safety zones in locations heavily frequented by students.
The department also deploys specialized Youth Coordination Officers, supervised by sergeants, to track crime trends near schools and throughout neighborhoods while connecting young people with support programs.
Among the department’s youth initiatives are Saturday Night Lights, a citywide sports program, and programs operated by the Police Athletic League.
Still, the NYPD can address only part of the juvenile-crime problem, said Kirk Burkhalter, a New York Law School professor who spent 20 years with the department before retiring as a first-grade detective.
“Sadly, this is nothing new,” he said.
Burkhalter recalled his time as a police officer in the 1980s, when “life was extremely cheap” and many people committing killings in major cities were very young. He identified the crack epidemic as a major factor at the time.
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Today, experts say youth violence in New York often escalates from neighborhood turf disputes between crews, along with online threats and boasts shared by juveniles.
“It’s pretty amazing that there’s a segment of young people who are committing crimes that would be difficult to apprehend them for but for them putting the proceeds of those crimes—and holding an unlicensed firearm—on some type of social media, literally bragging about it,” Burkhalter said.
Ultimately, Burkhalter said, the NYPD’s primary tool is making arrests.
“The police are literally keeping the top on the bottle,” he said. “The only thing they can do is apprehend offenders once they’ve committed a crime. There has to be a different approach.”
The latest youth shooting occurred around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday, when Jihadi Pack was shot in the stomach behind NYCHA’s King Towers building on West 115th Street near Malcolm X Boulevard, where he lived, police said.
He was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside, but he could not be saved, authorities said.
A 57-year-old man – who law enforcement sources identified as a worker for the New York City Housing Authority – was struck in the right hand by an apparent stray bullet nearby, police and sources said. A 15-year-old was taken into custody but he wasn’t immediately charged, police said.
The motive wasn’t clear, cops said.
In another recent tragic case, 14-year-old Malakai Adams was fatally gunned down by a scooter-riding killer on Sept. 21 in Far Rockaway, Queens.
The shooter allegedly stole Adams’ ride after blasting him in the back around 3:40 p.m. but it wasn’t clear if that was the main motive, cops said. Investigators haven’t ruled out gang involvement in the shooting, police sources said.
Harlem mom Jackie Rowe-Adams, who lost two sons in shootings, wants inner city communities to do more to help stop youth gun violence, she said.
“Let’s tell the truth of what’s happening in the urban community,” said the 79-year-old who runs a group called Harlem Mothers and Fathers SAVE (Stop Another Violent End) and helps grieving parents who’ve lost their children to street violence.
“We as parents and community leaders must do more,” she said. “We must check their backpacks when they leave our houses. We have to check under mattresses. I’m not saying it will stop it, but it could really slow it down.”
Rowe-Adams’ son Anthony Bouldin was shot and killed in Harlem at the age of 17 in 1982. Sixteen years later, her 28-year-old son, Tyrone Bouldin, was murdered in Baltimore.
“You never, ever forget,” she said. “You learn to move on, but you never forget your loved ones. If I can save another mother or another family from feeling the hurt and pain, my life will not be in vain.”