March 14, 2000

I am sorry that I cannot join you in person for the San Diego Forum Against Youth Violence, but I want to commend you for the important work you are doing. Your thoughtful, collaborative approach to the problem of youth violence is just the kind of effort that our country needs.

When I became Attorney General, I considered youth violence to be one of America's great public health and crime problems. Now, as we begin a new millennium, we have seen a turn-around in juvenile violent crime. While I think there is cause for very modest celebration, we must not become complacent. As the crime rate goes down, there is a tendency to focus our attention on other issues. We must resist this temptation, because crime goes up more easily than it goes down.

We have a golden opportunity to keep the pressure on, to work on the building blocks of a child's life and a family's life, so that they can have a strong and positive future - and so that we can make a dramatic impact on the culture of violence in this country. Somehow, we must make sure that we put our children first again in America, to reclaim lost lives and to prevent others from falling through the cracks in the first place. And we must do it as partners.

Thank you all for your work on this critical issue. If we continue to work together, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

Janet Reno
Attorney General