The New York Times recently gave a name to something city residents have been enduring for months: “teen takeovers”. These are large youth gatherings organised online that, within minutes, can escalate from aimless loitering into intimidation, vandalism and violence.

This phenomenon has appeared in cities including Chicago, Washington and Detroit, as teenagers claim they want a place to socialise and blow off steam. That may be true. But when blowing off steam means overrunning downtown areas, terrifying families and overwhelming police, it stops being a youth-culture story and becomes a public-order crisis.

One key mistake is to treat these gatherings as proof that America is in the grip of a nationwide youth-crime frenzy. In fact, the FBI’s preliminary 2025 data shows that violent crime is down 9.3% across the country. Youth arrests remain more than 75% below their 1995 peak.

But the second mistake is worse: using those statistics to dismiss the visible disorder that often never makes it into the data. Downtown areas can feel ungoverned long before the national crime rate starts to rise.

Teen takeovers are best understood as a failure of authority. Social media has made it easy to summon hundreds of adolescents to a commercial district at short notice. Chicago’s first major takeover this year brought hundreds of teens into the Loop, resulting in eight arrests and 24 curfew violations. Meanwhile, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city was seeing takeovers promoted on a weekly basis and responded with targeted curfew zones.

Far from being imaginary concerns, these incidents constitute repeated breakdowns in the basic promise of city life: that public space belongs to the public, not to whoever can assemble the largest and loudest crowd. Conservatives should be clear about the principle at stake: this is not about demographics but conduct. The teenager who simply wants to meet friends is not the issue. The problem arises from assaults, public damage, looting, or any attempt to turn a public square into what is essentially a no-go zone. A civilised city has to be able to draw that distinction and enforce it.

This process begins at home. While adolescent risk-taking is normal, abuse, neglect and toxic stress can weaken impulse control and put young people on dangerous trajectories. Studies have previously found a major link between delinquency and poor parental monitoring, neglect, hostility and rejection. In plain English: adult supervision and family structure matter.

That is why parental accountability should not be taboo. DC already makes it unlawful for an adult to encourage or permit a minor to be truant or commit criminal acts. The point is not to prosecute every overwhelmed parent, but instead to say that the adult who knowingly ignores truancy or criminal behaviour has obligations too.

Cities also need the confidence to enforce basic rules. Curfews are not a panacea, but they are a legitimate tool for dispersing dangerous crowds before they harden into mobs. Some approaches that can be helpful are limited curfew zones, targeted enforcement and youth programming alongside the restrictions.

Enforcement alone is not enough, however. Youth violent offending in the after-school period is nearly six times the rate during the juvenile curfew period. Cities need opportunities earlier in the day and throughout the summer that keep young people busy: jobs, sports, mentoring and supervised evening spaces. And the evidence is strong. A Chicago summer jobs programme reduced violent-crime arrests by 45% in the first year after participation. New York City’s summer youth employment programme cut the chances of an arrest by 17% and chances of a felony conviction by 38%.

The choice is not between compassion and order. We should reject that false bargain. Real compassion means giving young people structure, discipline and opportunity. Real order means enforcing the law before disorder turns violent. Teen takeovers show what happens when adults abdicate responsibility — at home, at school and in city hall. The goal is not to criminalise adolescence, but to stop surrendering the city to chaos.