REMARKS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DAN CONLEY TO THE BLACK MINISTERIAL ALLIANCE, TEN POINT COALITION and CONGREGATION OF THE CHARLES STREET AME CHURCH APRIL 11, 2002 There is much work to be done. Before the Black Ministerial Alliance or the Ten Point Coalition were officially organized as groups, it was religious leaders - you and so many of your predecessors - who provided the spiritual, moral, and social support to sustain families and communities of color. Long before any public official spoke about partnerships, collaborations, neighborhood policing or Community Based Juvenile Justice, it was religious leaders - you and so many of your predecessors - who almost single-handedly were laying the foundations and who always held out an open hand in search of partners who were willing to listen and address the pressing needs of communities of color. And so I come before you today, first, to listen. Second, to thank you for all that you do. And third, to grasp every extended hand and offer my Office and myself as partners because there is much work to be done. The success of the 1990's was just that - the success of the 1990's. Today we're facing an entirely new set of challenges. As Reverend Jeffrey Brown has said, today we're dealing with young men and women who were resistant to the work of the Boston Miracle in the 1990's. That's a credit to all that was accomplished, but also an indication of the challenge ahead. At-risk youth remain a major concern, but we're also looking at an older group of perpetrators of violent crime that is unique from a decade ago. While guns and drugs and gangs remain major concerns, the violence we're seeing today isn't necessarily as guns-and-drugs-and-gang driven as it was in the early 1990's. We're not just trying to reach those kids who are on the fringes or those issues that are plainly visible from the surface. We need to go deeper and reach kids who are already being pulled closer to the core, and put in place even more comprehensive preventive strategies to reduce the risks that threaten to hurt individuals and communities in the first place. The criminal justice response isn't enough. There must be a social and educational and spiritual response, and especially an economic response. That's why I was so pleased to be with Mayor Menino at Bowdoin and Geneva for the announcement of the CityLinks initiative. It's also why I'm convinced that the groundwork you've laid to provide more opportunities to recently released inmates is so critical. I'm committed to working with you in ways that make sense, including urging more post-release supervision and support by probation and community groups. This gives past offenders both structure and incentive to lead productive lives, and provides employers with the confidence to give ex-offenders a new start. Let's face it, if collaborations and partnerships were critical to the success of the 1990's, then today and in the years ahead they're going to be absolutely indispensable. As District Attorney, my job is made easier and our neighborhoods are safer when there is community cooperation in investigations and prosecutions. That's something I will continuously foster. With programs like the Safe Neighborhoods Initiative already in place in some key places -- Grove Hall, Bowdoin and Geneva, East Boston, and Chelsea - and with Community Based Juvenile Justice Roundtables in place in many of our schools, we have a decent foundation. But part of my challenge is to assess whether these initiatives remain focused on the right issues and if we're directing the proper resources toward them. To make those assessments, I need your help and that of other community leaders. My guess is that we can do better. We can always do better. So far we've applied the SNI model to mostly gang-related violent crimes. But as I've gone around Suffolk County, it's quality of life crimes like vandalism, low-level drug dealing and car thefts that residents press for attention. I'm committed to giving it. But I need your help. While I can provide leadership, solutions to these or any problem almost never come from the top down. They're always built from the ground up. Closely linked to the question of programs and initiatives and resources, I also want to ask your help on another issue that has troubled me for a long time. As some of you may know, I spent nearly a decade as an Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County. I prosecuted everything from drug offenses to domestic violence to rape and murder. I spent time with far too many victims' families. I'm concerned that when a young man or woman who is often of color, almost always poor, and who lives in the City, is murdered or overdoses or winds up in prison, there is too little concern. People shake their heads but treat it like it's inevitable. When someone is killed on our streets, usually the only people who know about it are you, and me, and the victim's family, and the prosecutors and cops who will spend the next few years working to speak for that person who can no longer speak for himself. If you watch the television news, you might think that the only people who are murdered come from affluent suburbs, or were killed under circumstances that lend themselves to sensationalism. We need to change this attitude. Every person whose life is snuffed out on our streets was loved by someone. Every person taken from us by violence -- every one, regardless of his own personal story -- had parents who wished him a better life, or a spouse who loved him, or children who needed him, or friends who miss him. Every victim -- whatever life choices he made -- deserved a better fate. How do we convey the worth of each and every life, as something more than a number: Homicide #12 of 2002? Part of the solution is for me to use the bully pulpit of my office in the same way each of you have literally used the pulpit of your churches to give dignity and value and perspective to lives cut short, regardless of the circumstance. But beyond words, this is why the question of program and initiatives and resources is so critical - because we spend far too much time looking back on lives that end in tragedy, instead of recognizing the warning signs early and preventing them. I believe that regardless of where people live or who they are, that our civil rights and our right to live in peace and safety are paramount. I also believe that regardless of the circumstances of a person's life or childhood, people who commit heinous crimes that violate someone's civil rights or peace and safety, should be held accountable and punished. But I refuse to accept that prison cells or graves are inevitable destinations for so many people so young. And I am committed, not just in words but through my actions as District Attorney, to creating as much opportunity as possible to improve outcomes and treat every person with the full measure of dignity and respect they deserve. I want to thank you all for having me here today. There are many other issues I'd like to talk about, but as I said at the beginning, my first priority is to listen. There is much work to be done, and with your help, I'm eager to get to it.