LEWISTON — In early May, police arrested a local teenager in connection with a shooting on Bartlett Street the month before.

In that case, gunfire was reported about 4:30 a.m. in the area of Birch and Bartlett streets. The shooter was firing off rounds right out on the street, striking at least one building before fleeing ahead of police.

The shooter, police say, was 15 years old.

The same day police made that arrest, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg in a normally quiet neighborhood behind Central Maine Medical Center. The shooter, police say, was a 13-year-old boy who was found with a smoking gun near the scene.

Also at the scene, police rounded up several kids with three guns among them.

Last week, three teens were arrested for conspiracy to commit murder.

Why is the city experiencing a rash of teen violence and gun use?

Experts say part of the problem is community inequality caused by economic challenges, underfunded education, and widespread housing and food insecurity.

Discussions with people close to the matter say it’s also the result of a flawed juvenile justice system that doesn’t hold the students accountable for their violent behavior, with those arrested often back on the streets the next day.

WHO ARE THE TEENS

In the month of May, the Lewiston Police Department arrested 27 people for violent or gun-related crimes. Of the 27 arrests, 20 were juveniles, said Corey Jacques.

Jacques is the youth coordinator for the Lewiston Police Department, where he’s worked for 24 years in various roles, including as a school resource officer.

He’s seeing the same group of children get arrested over and over, and described them as “very young but very street smart.”

Children have always done “dumb things,” he said, like steal street signs or spray graffiti, but there’s been an uptick in gun violence and violent behavior that wasn’t there 10 years ago.

“Over the last four to five years, we have started seeing younger and younger kids with guns,” he said. The children stealing guns are as young as 13 years old.

The youths involved with the aggravated crimes are often the same group of children and are targeting each other in a gang-type mentality. Very rarely are the acts of violence random, Jacques said. Most of the teens involved are already expelled from public schools.

Adding to the problem, Jacques said, is that when and if the children are charged, they often have their charges dismissed after being deemed incompetent to stand trial for various factors, including their mental well-being, trauma and age. It’s becoming more and more common for teens to be considered incompetent to stand trial, he said.

Some of those teens go through the system and think that “it wasn’t that bad,” he said.

“We hear them say a lot of the time when we arrest them, ‘I don’t care. What am I going to do, spend one day at the youth center?’” Jacques said.

WHAT EXPERTS SAY

Research is showing that violent behavior is starting at an earlier age, according to Nick Meyerson, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

The university is a leader in gun violence research and aims to offer solutions through its Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Meyerson’s research is on the impacts of youth violence on communities. 

Violent behavior starting at a younger age could be from the child’s exposure to violence at home. Also, he said, content on social media like TikTok and Instagram can “normalize” the behaviors.

“I think (social media) makes them more likely to have access to these things, or more knowledgeable about how to get access to these things,” Meyerson said.

When children are exposed at a younger age to guns and gun violence, it can raise the likelihood that they will be involved with the criminal system later in life, he said.

It’s easy to blame parents, Meyerson said, but in his research, more often kids are learning the behavior from friends. 

“Especially for kids who are entering high school, rather than relying so much on their parents to learn behaviors, they’re picking this stuff up from friends,” he said. “They’re getting involved because of who they are engaged with.”

When children have more idle time, there’s more potential to be involved with illegal or illicit behavior, Meyerson said. 

Idle time could be because of a lack of after-school and other social activities, employment or volunteer opportunities. For students who are expelled from school, there could be no place for them to go during the day.

“We’re seeing this public health approach to why violence happens,” Mayerson said. “It’s not just about them, calling someone a ‘bad person,’ it’s about what’s going on around them, what they are seeing around them and what’s available to them.

“If there’s nothing readily available to them, the only way to get the things you want is through illegal behaviors, like robbing people or getting involved in drug markets to get money,” he said.

LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS

Nicole Lemay, executive director of Youth Led Justice, a restorative justice program in the city, receives calls from teens in the community daily.

Sometimes, they broke up with a boyfriend and are in need of some company. Other times, they are struggling with alcohol and drugs and need someone to lean on.

In all cases, Lemay is there for the children as part of her role leading the program.

It serves as an alternative for students facing troubles in their lives, or with the law. Restorative justice programs are one of the methods that researchers believe help minimize youth crime in communities. A recent grant has allowed the program to launch a violence interruption initiative to serve youth impacted by peer violence through one-on-one mentorship and programming.

“A lot of it comes down to belonging,” Lemay said. “Think of the youth who are excluded in one way or another, in the school system, in the community. A lot of what they are looking for is to belong in that community.”

But, the programs cost money. Youth Led Justice was previously funded by the Maine Department of Corrections through a contract that ended last year.

Similarly, Jacques, with the police department, said that years ago, the police tried a program called the “Credible Messenger” that sent a trusted adult mentor into the community to help bridge connections between the youths and police department.

Other solutions the department has tried include having youth paint over their graffiti while spending reflective time with an officer.

“Now it seems to be by the wayside. There’s no money for stuff like that,” he said.

Since then, staff at the police department have looked into fundraising methods to fill the void. One officer raises money to take students to the Portland Celtics yearly.

Opportunities to get out of the city and experience being a child can help, Lemay said, as well as giving children something to do after school.

“When youths are brought to environments where they can be kids again and not have to have their guard up, they feel safe and they feel like they can be a child again. These tough 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds turn into silly kids,” Lemay said. “They are able to go back in time.”