DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160423

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   55 lines

RENO ASKS STATES TO HELP FIGHT JUVENILE CRIME ATTORNEY GENERAL TALKS TO PROSECUTORS AT NORFOLK WATERSIDE CONVENTION CENTER.

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno urged state prosecutors Tuesday to join federal agencies in combating juvenile violence in the coming decade.

In a speech before the National District Attorneys Association at the Norfolk Waterside Convention Center, Reno said youth violence is the biggest challenge facing law enforcement.

While violent crime overall is dropping, Reno warned that juvenile violence could increase. ``The number of young people will increase significantly in the next 10 years,'' Reno said. ``We must provide the tools to do the job.''

Last year, for the first time in seven years, the rate of young people arrested for violent crime and murder dropped. ``Let's not let that be a blip on the screen,'' Reno said.

She said President Clinton's proposed Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Act of 1997 would provide $200 million over two years to prosecute youthful offenders, especially gang members. Another $50 million would go to courts for programs aimed at young violent offenders.

Clinton's strategy calls for more prosecutors and tougher penalties, particularly for gang and drug activities. The proposal also would make it harder for teen-agers to buy guns.

The community-based strategy would keep schools open late, on weekends and during the summer to keep youngsters off the streets and out of trouble.

Reno briefly addressed several other issues:

The importance of federal/state forfeiture sharing. Reno said her office would fight any attempts to weaken forfeiture statutes.

The difficulty of international extradition. Reno said she is working to improve the relationship of the State Department and Justice Department to make extradition easier, particularly in parental kidnapping cases.

Advances in information and computer technology. Law enforcement must improve its technology to combat new forms of terrorism and sabotage, Reno said, including linking local, regional and federal information systems. ``A global information system can mean so much, but we've got to work together,'' she said.

``In five years, we'll have the capacity to send technicians to the scene of a crime, take DNA samples, send them across the country for an immediate match,'' Reno said, referring to the needed improvements in accuracy and responsiveness to local prosecutors by the FBI lab.

Access to national crime records by local law enforcement. Reno said a national system is needed for instant checks of gun purchasers and offenders stopped by local police. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Attorney General Janet Reno is greeted at a meeting of the National

District Attorneys Association at the Waterside Convention Center.

She said youth violence is the biggest challenge facing law

enforcement.

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