THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510010027
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Teenage lawbreakers should be the country's chief criminal concern, the nation's top cop said Saturday.
Attorney General Janet Reno told members of Crime Stoppers International that ``youth violence - children killing children'' is out of control and that demographics show that the population most at risk - 14- to 17-year-olds - will only grow in the years ahead.
``Unless we start to do something about youth violence now, the problem is only going to get worse,'' she told more than 600 delegates at an luncheon at the Cavalier Hotel.
She urged increased spending to bolster established programs and to launch new efforts designed to steer kids away from crime before they get involved in it and to help those already leading a criminal life.
But, she said, that is not enough - and she faulted the criminal justice system's approach to youth crime for being short-sighted.
``No program, no matter how good,'' makes much difference, she said, if all it does is take troublemakers off the street for a few years only to return them - unmonitored and unassisted - to the same crime-ridden, hopeless environments they came from. ``It makes no sense,'' Reno said.
She urged establishment of more community-based programs to harness youthful energy in productive endeavors while instilling positive values and ideals.
Reno's remarks, coming near the end of the weeklong conference, were well-received by delegates representing almost every state and Canadian province as well as Australia and England.
More than 1,000 communities around the world have launched Crime Stoppers programs, leading to the resolution of nearly half a million crimes, Reno said.
And active public participation in anti-crime efforts is ``necessary, important and vital. . . . The police can't do it by themselves,'' Reno said, adding: ``Crime Stoppers, to me, is the symbol of what involvement is all about.''
Most impressive, she said, is the conviction rate of Crime Stoppers programs. Reno said 97.4 percent of some 90,000 people arrested because of tips made through Crime Stoppers programs are found guilty.
``Violence is going down because of people who care,'' and the work of cops and prosecutors, Reno said. ``I have never, ever been so encouraged. I am seeing action now in this country with communities coming together'' to fight crime.
During her brief appearance Saturday, Reno noted the strong link between drugs and crime, especially violent crime, and praised efforts to put offenders behind bars for the full length of their sentences.
``The lack of truth in sentencing has done as much to undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system as anything I know,'' Reno said.
But where she wants tough sentencing for career and violent criminals, she said society must be willing to help first-time, nonviolent offenders of drug laws.
In particular she urged continued development of special ``drug courts'' that can take charge of first-time, nonviolent offenders. Such courts use community-based programs to set offenders straight, often helping them with job training and placement.
``They are working; it's not talk,'' Reno said of such courts already in place.
She also said the Clinton administration's initiative to put 100,000 new police officers on the street in five years is succeeding.
The effort had faced cuts in the Republican-controlled Congress, but Reno said critical parts of the program have been restored, and by next year, 55,000 more officers will be on the streets or ready to take on their duties.
To applause, she called for development of new programs to address domestic violence - particularly, violence against women.
``So much violence is related to domestic violence,'' Reno said. ``Unless we stop violence in the home, we are never going to stop it on the streets or in the schools of America.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno
Graphic
TAMARA VONINSKI/Staff
Larry Wieda, president of Crime Stoppers International, talks to
Attorney General Janet Reno before her speech Saturday.
by CNB