"Criminals have a choice -- victims don't."

This slogan was the dominant theme of Carl Brizzi's successful campaign for Marion County prosecutor last year.

Y-Press interviewed Brizzi late last year and again recently to see how these few words are being put into action.

"As simple as those words are to say, it really means a lot more in terms of how the office is actually run," Brizzi said in December. "You've got to really care about what happens to people, and you got to be committed to making a difference."

Brizzi began his law career in 1993 as state public defender. In 1995, he became chief of gang prosecutions for then-Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman.

In 1998, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work as an investigator for U.S. Rep. Dan Burton's committee inquiry into the illegal flow of foreign money into U.S. campaigns. He then returned to Indianapolis.

Later, he returned to public service, overseeing some of the same issues he took on before.

Under Newman, he said, there was "a real concerted effort to investigate, arrest and aggressively prosecute" criminal street gangs. "They were involved in drugs, and they were involved in guns, and they were involved in intimidation and really anything that you can think of."

Brizzi believes his work was successful.

"The gang problem here in Indianapolis is not nearly as bad as it once was."

Combating gang activity is still a major part of his new job. Vertical prosecution -- in which Brizzi's office works with police to help build a solid case -- has led to increased gang investigations and prosecutions, he said. In fact, the office has one deputy prosecutor who concentrates on gang cases.

"I can guarantee you that there are gangs all over Marion County. They're gonna be north, south, east and west, and they're going to be doing different things," he said.

"That's why they're hard to stop, because they're not so organized that you can say, 'OK, these 10 guys are part of this gang.' Three of those guys might be part of that gang, and then these two guys might go off and do something by themselves, and then these three guys might be part of this other gang."

But the main problem that gives rise to gangs is still here: alienated young people in search of a sense of belonging.

"I think young people join gangs to have a substitute for a family that they may or may not have at home. They're looking for acceptance, and they're looking for belonging," Brizzi said.

Brizzi believes alternative activities and role models can keep young people from turning to gangs. But first, they need to feel safe in their own neighborhoods. He recently outlined a host of projects to steer them away from drugs and violence.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a prosecutor's office program designed to get guns off the streets and to prosecute defendants who use a gun to commit a crime. Using federal money, the project has trained law-enforcement personnel in gathering evidence in such cases. In addition, three specially trained prosecutors handle nothing but gun-related cases, and the city has hired a full-time handgun fingerprint expert for the crime lab.

Getting rid of drugs is another way to make neighborhoods safe. In particular, Brizzi has targeted methamphetamine labs. While Indiana State Police conduct the raids, "I have dedicated my staff to prosecuting these cases vigorously," he said.

A new law makes it a crime to take a child to a place where drugs are used or sold. In the first local case of its kind, Brizzi said, a Southeastside couple will go on trial next month on charges of operating a meth lab out of their home while their 12-year-old son was present.

Brizzi also tries to directly reach children who might be at risk of engaging in criminal activity -- "children who may not be doing that well in school, who may not have the right kind of family life and the right kind of environment in which to flourish," he said.

"What we need to do is to identify those kids, and then reach out to them through mentoring programs to make a difference in their lives before they make choices that are too hard to step back from."

One such program, which Brizzi has continued, is EKG -- Educating Kids about Gun violence.

"Folks actually go to the schools and talk about gun violence and what to do if you find a gun and that sort of thing, (and they) show pictures and talk about what really happens if you get shot because, you know, there's a lot of fantasy and a lot of Hollywood that is kind of built around people getting shot," he said.

A school-based juvenile accountability program also is used in several Marion County middle and high schools. That program brings together law-enforcement agencies and school officials to discuss the needs and progress of students who are at risk of delinquency or who have already been in trouble with the law.

Brizzi said he also is committed to providing mentoring programs to these troubled youth. Starting with Coleman Middle School, he plans to recruit and train mentors for all students in the school-based program, as well as other children recommended by their schools.

He also said the prosecutor's office will serve as a clearinghouse for other mentor programs, providing them with networking opportunities, background checks and support.

Citing a 1998 nationwide study, Brizzi explained his faith in mentoring: "Forty percent of children who have been to juvenile court make a return trip. Only 7 percent make a return trip if they are exposed to a mentor."

A father of four, Brizzi takes seriously the role he can play in children's lives.

"What prosecutors do matters. It matters a great deal, and so that's what I'm most looking forward to is being significant and making a difference."

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Jessica Kerman, 19; Stephen Miller, 14; Milan Patel, 14.

REPORTERS: Allison Gardner, 13; Emily Kasnak, 12; Katie McDowell, 11.