Are toddlers on the Jersey Shore at risk of arrest for public nudity? Trentonian columnist Jeff Edelstein thinks so. As he tells the story, Edelstein and his wife, after a visit to the beach at Spring Lake, New Jersey, removed the bathing suits of their two- and four-year-old children at the public shower. A “beach supervisor” called the police, who let them leave with a verbal warning. 

While some public nudity laws have age limits, those in the town of Spring Lake do not. It may seem unlikely that a toddler (or her parental accomplice) would be arrested for public nudity, but, as Mr. Edelstein and some Internet commenters observe, such laws can be used to enforce social mores or even harass outsiders.

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