Remarks as Delivered

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you, Liz, for your leadership, your commitment to this work, and to your vision. I am grateful to you and the entire team at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

And thank you, Brent, for your extraordinary leadership of the Office of Justice Programs.

Because of Liz, and Brent, and their teams, the 2024 National Conference on Youth Justice — our first in 13 years — has been an incredible success. I am so grateful.

To the Justice Department’s partners dedicated to protecting children and advancing juvenile justice — I know you have heard from a lot of people over the past few days. But the most important thing I want you to hear from me is: thank you.

Thank you for traveling from across the country to learn from one another and to allow us to learn from you.

Thank you especially to the young leaders who helped shape this event and who have shared their perspectives over the last three days.

In fact, if you are one of the many young people who helped plan this conference, or who participated in a presentation or panel, could you please wave or stand.

You are leaders and role models in your communities, and we are all so impressed by you.

And to all of our partners here today: thank you for the extraordinary work, for the work you do in your communities to advance a better future for our young people.

Every day, you work to keep children and teens free from crime and violence.

You implement community violence intervention strategies aimed at working with young people who are most likely to be involved in violent activities in the immediate future.

And you work to build trust between young people, their communities, and law enforcement.

You recognize the link between a young person’s exposure to violence and the likelihood that they will become involved in the juvenile justice system. And you provide support services for children exposed to violence in their homes, in their schools, and in their communities.

You work to prevent gang violence, reduce gang involvement, and stop gang‐related crime. You provide comprehensive victim assistance services to young people who experience gang violence and their families.

Through juvenile justice drug treatment courts and family treatment courts, you work to protect children, heal families, and strengthen communities.

You provide direct support services for child victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and work to improve community responses to these heinous crimes.

You work to ensure that all youth who come in contact with the justice system have equal access to specialized, well-resourced counsel.

You improve the conditions and treatment of young people in correctional facilities and work to ensure that they can successfully reenter their communities.

You provide specialized services to justice-involved youth and their families: from educational and vocational opportunities; to housing assistance and health care; to family programming and substance use treatment.  

You do this to ensure that young people are able to rejoin their communities and build fulfilling, purposeful, and safe lives.

And you do this work with the understanding that we must confront persistent, unjustified disparities in juvenile justice outcomes along racial and socioeconomic lines.

I know this represents just a fraction of your work and of your effort.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

As we mark 50 years since the historic enactment of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, there is so much to be proud to be of.  

In the past couple of years, we have made significant progress in turning the tide against the violent crime that spiked during the pandemic.

Last year we saw an historic drop in homicides nationwide and one of the lowest levels of violent crime in 50 years.

And statistics released by the FBI show that violent crime has continued to decline considerably in the first half of this year compared to the same time last year — including a further 10% drop in violent crime and a 22% decline in murder.

However, despite the historic gains we have made in driving down violent crime, we know there is so much work to do. Progress is still too uneven — including when it comes to reversing increases we have seen in certain types of youth crime.

We are all here together today because we know there is no singular solution for this heartbreaking and complex problem.

But we also know that youth crime and violence is preventable.

And we know what works: evidence-based, comprehensive approaches that address the multiple factors that impact youth violence.

The success of those efforts relies on committed advocates, policymakers, law enforcement and community leaders, researchers, practitioners, and critically, young people and their families.

It relies on the kind of people who are in this room right now.

That is why, last year, OJJDP developed a Continuum of Care framework to guide our collective approach to youth justice programs.

This framework prioritizes community safety and reflects the need for a holistic strategy to prevent young people from becoming involved in the justice system.

The United States Department of Justice is committed to this work.

Over the last four years, OJJDP has invested over $1.6 billion to advance safety and justice for our nation’s young people, including over $430 million this year alone.

We do this because we believe that every child deserves to grow up free from violence.

We believe that every person deserves to feel safe and be safe in their community.

And that we believe that we have a shared moral obligation to ensure that our young people have the tools and support they need to navigate the challenges that they face.

I am proud of the extraordinary public servants at OJJDP and across the Justice Department who will continue this work in the years that come.

And I am proud of everyone in this room for your enduring commitment to this work. I know it is not easy. But it could not be more important. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.