Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
It is particularly uplifting to reunite in person, with so many friends and colleagues.
Most of us forged our bonds of trust and friendship during our government service, typically in the Department of Justice. Take a moment and think back to your DOJ careers. Think about what pushed you, motivated you, inspired you to enter public service. These are never jobs done for monetary gain.
No, we all answered the call for public service because of the people. To ensure justice for people in our communities.
One singular event served as my inspiration to become a prosecutor. In 2004, I lost my half-brother to a very violent death on the streets of New Orleans. He was 24 years old, and despite his young age, he had lost many friends, most even younger, to the same tragic fate. That loss led me to conclude that I needed to join the Department of Justice and help prevent other individuals in our communities from falling victim to criminality. To help other families and communities, so that they would not endure that same pain and loss.
From my first day as an Assistant U.S. Attorney to my current role as head of the Criminal Division, my commitment to vindicating the interests of victims has not wavered.
Now, it is easy to contemplate victims when we talk about violent crime. But even though this has been a focus of our prosecutors’ work for some time now, we all often lose sight of the damage caused by financial, corporate and greed-driven…