Who's afraid of teen takeovers?
4/27/202626 min
Teenagers are taking over pockets of American cities and local governments are struggling to deal with them. We set out in search of solutions. This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. An AI-generated flyer saying “Link up at U Street” advertising a teen takeover in Washington, DC. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsSean Rameswaram· Host0:00
Okay, Today Explained, Sean Rameswaram here in Washington, DC, where the biggest story over the weekend was the guy with the gun at the dinner with the president. Big crime, and we're gonna talk more about that on the show tomorrow. But on the show today, we're gonna talk about smaller crimes here in Washington. Have you heard about the teen takeovers? [upbeat music] A ton of teenagers get together in a corner of the city on, say, a Saturday night, and there's good times, but also, inevitably, there's shenanigans.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:29
[laughing] Police say nearly 200 young people were involved Saturday night. Two robberies were reported. Someone fired off gunshots in the air.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:37
If some of these kids need to spend a night or two in jail in order to feel that there are repercussions to their actions, then so be it.
Sean Rameswaram· Host0:44
It's not just a DC thing, though. Teen takeovers have been happening in Detroit, Chicago, Jacksonville, Los Angeles. So on the show today, we're gonna ask what's to be done when summer's around the corner, and the kids just wanna have fun, but also, there's some petty larceny and property damage.
Speaker 40:58
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