NOVJL wishes to focus the national discussion onto what we know to be the real solution to the "problem" of so many juvenile killers serving life without parole sentences - something that we wished the whole nation had been focused on before our loved ones were murdered - PREVENTION.

We know that almost every single "juvenile lifer's" sentence resulted from actions that they took that were entirely preventable. We know that in most cases there were people in their lives that were aware of their danger signs, that were in a position to do something to intervene.

Since we are the living legacies of those murdered, whose lives can never be brought back, we often feel little short of outrage over the advocacy for the offenders that takes no time or energy at all to work on prevention of such violence.

We need to change the dialog around the issue of juveniles who kill.

We call on the entire national community advocating for the juvenile lifers to devote fully half of their time and half of their resources advocating for prevention efforts, as many of us do, and to helping the victims of these crimes.

Only then will their movement have the credibility that is needed to make the kind of broad social change they are calling for. And we believe that by working together on prevention issues, victims and advocates for the young killers may begin, in true restorative justice fashion, to find common ground on which to proceed.

LINKS to some organizations and resources that focus on juvenile crime prevention:

LINKS to Organizations that focus on crime and violence prevention in general