New Jersey leaves teen curfews to each town. A pending bill would give mayors a set process for emergency curfews covering people of every age.

Whether a New Jersey teenager can stay out late on Mischief Night or Halloween depends on the town, since state law leaves curfews to local officials, and municipalities from Woodbridge to Wall have their own hours for both nights.

A 1992 state law authorizes towns to keep anyone under 18 out of streets and other public places overnight. Each municipality decides whether to use it.

A bill pending in Trenton would add a separate route, letting a mayor facing group disorder order an emergency curfew that applies to adults too.

What you need to know

Curfew start times for Friday (Mischief Night) and Saturday (Halloween), with curfew ages listed where the town gave them:

• Haddon Township: 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; under 17.

• Hasbrouck Heights: 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

• Ho-Ho-Kus: 7:30 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday; under 18.

• Long Branch: 8 p.m. nightly from Oct. 29 through Halloween; under 17.

• Merchantville: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

• Moorestown: 8:30 p.m. Friday, 10 p.m. Saturday.

• North Brunswick: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; under 18.

• Plainfield: 8:30 p.m. Friday (the announcement does not mention Saturday); under 18.

• South Plainfield: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

• Waldwick: 9 p.m. Friday (the announcement does not mention Saturday); under 18.

• Wall: 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

• Woodbridge: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; under 18.

These municipalities are examples, not every town with a curfew. Check your town or police department's website before heading out.

Some towns vote on a curfew while others keep one in their code

North Brunswick and Merchantville put this year's curfews in place by council resolution. North Brunswick's mayor and council adopted theirs Sept. 14, with township police enforcing it, the township said. Merchantville's Borough Council, in Camden County, approved its resolution last month. Haddon Township, Ho-Ho-Kus and Wall carry theirs in standing local code.

Hasbrouck Heights police said they would enforce their curfew strictly. Woodbridge warns a teen caught the first time and holds one caught a second time until a parent comes. South Plainfield set trick-or-treating from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Long Branch's curfew has run nightly since Oct. 29. Moorestown's notice names no age, and the township sets no trick-or-treat hours. Plainfield and Waldwick announced Friday curfews, and neither announcement mentions Saturday.

The 1992 law sets the rules for curfews written under it

The hours and penalties in today's law date to a bill from Assemblyman Jerry Green and Sen. Ron Rice that then-Gov. Jim Florio signed Oct. 29, 1992. Lawmakers have amended the law twice since, in 1995 and 2005.

A curfew under the law can run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and cover streets, parks, shopping areas, parking lots and public transit.

Every ordinance under the law must let teens run medical-emergency errands, attend school extracurricular activities and go to events that religious or community groups sponsor. It must also spell out the rules clearly enough to limit police officers' discretion, which the law says is meant to prevent arbitrary or biased enforcement.

Violators owe community service and can face fines as high as $1,000. When a teen and a parent both break an ordinance, they do the community service together.

"We don't believe state government should be telling municipalities what their community standards should be. This bill doesn't mandate a thing," Florio said that day.

His office said then that many towns already had working curfew ordinances, which "would not be directly affected by the new law."

A pending bill would give mayors a set process for all-ages curfews

A bill from Assemblyman Gary S. Schaer (D), who represents the 36th District in Bergen and Passaic counties, would let a mayor declare a local emergency and a curfew covering everyone in all or part of a town. The curfew could run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for up to seven straight days unless the mayor extends it.

An incident would start with a group of five or more people. In one case, their disorderly conduct, likely to cause substantial harm, goes on after an order to disperse. In the other, they engage in conduct that threatens immediate substantial harm, and a police officer or other public official orders them not to carry it out.

The mayor and police chief, consulting the town's emergency management coordinator, would then have to find that violence or property destruction is under way or likely and that an emergency and curfew could help police control the disorder.

The bill's findings credit social networking with helping people communicate and coordinate. They add that the same technology "can be used by individuals and groups to organize for the purpose of engaging in violent and destructive behavior."

Rules for identifying that kind of planning would come from the superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. Consulting the state attorney general, the superintendent would adopt guidelines on spotting and investigating plans and messages about group disorder, and on how officers may order people to stand down.

State law already lets a town's emergency management coordinator declare a local disaster emergency when a disaster has struck or is imminent, and issue orders to protect residents.

The bill would set its own procedure, separate from the disaster law, and by its terms would override any conflicting law.

Bill records trace the measure to June 29, 2022, when Schaer filed it and Sen. Vin Gopal (D) of the 11th District in Monmouth County carried a Senate version. Schaer filed it again Jan. 9, 2024. The current bill was pre-filed for the new session and introduced Jan. 13, 2026, when the Assembly sent it to its Public Safety and Preparedness Committee.

Each version went to a committee, and the bill records list no further action on any of them. The 2022 and 2024 versions ended with their sessions.

A town's website or police department can confirm whether a curfew applies and when it starts.

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Sources

BillTrack50, bill records for A4414, S2948 and A2931 (accessed Oct. 30, 2026)

Borough of Waldwick, "Mischief Night Curfew, October 30" (Sept. 25, 2026)

Hurley, Amanda, FOX 29 Philadelphia, "Halloween curfews 2026: What Philly-area families need to know before trick-or-treating" (Oct. 29, 2026)

Hurley, Amanda, FOX 5 New York, "Halloween curfews 2026: When NYC-area kids need to be home this weekend" (Oct. 29, 2026)

Moorestown Township, "Halloween curfew is 10 p.m." (Oct. 21, 2026)

New Jersey Governor's Office, "Governor Signs Curfew Bill" (Oct. 29, 1992)

New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. A2931, "Enables imposition of local curfew to help curtail disorderly or riotous conduct" (Jan. 9, 2024)

New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. A2948, "Enables imposition of local curfew to help curtail disorderly or riotous conduct" (Jan. 13, 2026)

New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. A4414, "Enables imposition of local curfew to help curtail disorderly or riotous conduct" (June 29, 2022); companion Bill No. S2948

New Jersey Legislature, P.L.1953, c.438, local disaster emergency law, N.J.S.A. App.A:9-40.5, as amended (accessed Oct. 30, 2026)

New Jersey Legislature, P.L.1992, c.132, juvenile curfew law, N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.52, as amended (Oct. 29, 1992)

North Brunswick Township, "Township Curfew for Mischief Night (Friday, October 30) and Halloween (Saturday, October 31)" (Oct. 21, 2026)

Photo: Alabama Extension (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons