Remarks of District Attorney Daniel F. Conley: Project Strength and Spirit Introduction March 29, 2005 Good morning, everyone, and thanks for being here. I appreciate your coming in today, and before our speakers take the stage, I'd like to say a few words about why we're here. You may already know about the Victim Witness Advocate Program here in my office. It's the unit that provides moral and practical support to the victims and witnesses to violent crime. These advocates are dedicated, compassionate, and incredibly devoted to the people they work with, and I've received countless letters of praise for them, from victims and survivors who have said that their advocates' words and actions literally changed their lives. Each one of those letters confirms what I already know - that victim witness advocates are true partners, along with our prosecutors, investigators, and support staff, in our mission of seeking justice for our victims. But the fact is that there are just 34 such advocates employed here, and they handle tens of thousands of cases every year. They do great work, but we have found that they can be even more effective when we have the support of the community behind us. That's why, last year, we came up with a plan. It was based on surveys and studies showing that more people visit their ministers, priests, and preachers when confronted with a major problem than any other professional. It was based on the knowledge that while only about half of all violent crimes are reported to the police, virtually all crime victims avail themselves of help from their friends, their family, and their clergy. We hired a professional grant writer and applied for a federal grant to fund community groups, particularly religious groups like yours, in a comprehensive, collaborative effort to assist victims and witnesses throughout their experience in the criminal justice system. We wanted the most trusted and trustworthy people in the community to accompany these brave men and women - and, too often, these brave little boys and girls - before, during, and after their experience in court. And we wanted to demonstrate our commitment to justice for everyone, no matter who they are or where they live. I'm happy to say that we got that grant - thanks to the hard work and consistent efforts of Assistant District Attorney Kevin Hayden and many others in our Gang/SNI Unit - and that those federal dollars will go straight into the communities that need them most. Thanks to programs like Project Strength & Spirit, the courage shown by victims and witnesses will be matched by our combined efforts to protect them and to walk with them in their most vulnerable hours. Together, the members of faith groups, community centers, and law enforcement can stand behind them in far greater numbers than the street gangs who profit from fear. Violent crime is not just a criminal justice issue. It's a moral issue - an issue of right and wrong. And it is not simply a matter of one person hurting another. When one young man kills another, parents are wounded, whole families suffer, and neighbors see their communities slowly come undone. Last year, more than 70% of Boston's homicides took place in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury. Think about it - that's 70% of a city's murders in just three neighborhoods. Those three neighborhoods, as we all know, are populated largely by people of color and people in lower economic levels. When any ethnic group or economic class is disproportionately affected by violence or the threat of violence, the issue becomes one of civil rights, as well. The most basic rights of law-abiding citizens - the right to walk down their own streets, to take their children to the park on a summer night, to safely ride a bus to school or work - are threatened when the fear of violent crime keeps them home. And when any group is victimized with no retribution visited upon the criminal elements responsible, all of our liberties are at risk. Dating back to this country's first days, it has been the men and women of faith who have demonstrated the courage, dignity, and leadership that changed the course of history. Time and again, they won over those who would have followed their baser instincts. Violence was met with peace, suspicion was met with trust, and the ties that held communities together - the ties of faith, compassion, and brotherhood - won out over the forces that would have torn them apart. The author James Baldwin once wrote that, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." Here in Boston, we do face a problem - but, together, I am confident that we can change it. Return to the previous page.