The first day of the National Association of Attorneys General gathering focused almost entirely on youth violence and its many aspects. Surprisingly, almost all the speakers stressed the need for prevention and early intervention as the only truly effective solution to the problem.

Only one speaker of more than a dozen, Deputy Los Angeles City Attorney Alana Bowman, zeroed in on domestic violence and how her office is dealing with it.

California Attorney General Dan Lungren said he is pleased to host the summit in his "home city of Long Beach, a city in renaissance, but not without problems."

Following opening remarks by the president of NAAG, New Mexico Attorney General Tom Udall, and Jay Nixon, attorney general of Missouri, a panel set out to define the culture of violence.

Panelist Delbert Elliot, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, began by saying the media has shaped the problem in ways that are untrue. One incorrect impression is that society is more dangerous now than it was 10 years ago, he said, Another is that the entire younger generation is going to the dogs. A third fallacy is that the problem is primarily gang-related, and a fourth is the notion that the problem is virtually limited to African-American males.

The big difference between the United States and other Western nations is in the homicide rate, which among adolescents has more than doubled since 1988, Elliot said. In addition, kids are becoming killers at an earlier age. More and more murders are committed by 12-to-14-year-olds, and the rate of killings by 15-to-17-year-olds is skyrocketing.

At the same time, he said, far fewer people over 25 are becoming killers. "It is an adolescent phenomenon we're looking at."

However, while the number of violent crimes by teen-agers is rising, the proportion of offenses hasn't changed. "It is a change in lethality that is taking place," he said.

Michael Schumacher, Orange County's chief probation officer, said a study by his office of more than 6,000 juvenile offenders determined that 8 percent are responsible for the vast majority of crimes. Those 8 percent share four characteristics: poor school performance, disruptive family situations, drug and alcohol abuse, and hanging around with similar kids.

The overall community needs to intervene with the 8 percenters as soon as problems begin to surface, Schumacher said. If not, for every felon sent to prison under the three-strikes law, a 8 percenter will be ready to step to the plate and take over.

One adult who is attempting to do just that is Margaret Ensley, a single parent from Los Angeles whose son, Michael, was killed at his high school three years ago. "Violence has no name attached it," she told the silenced group. "it's not easy burying your child."

After her son's death, Ensley founded Mothers Against Violence In Schools and has tirelessly promoted that notion: tougher laws and intervention to prevent similar crimes.

The day's keynote speaker was Steve Nawojczyk, a former county coroner from Arkansas who has become an expert on gangs in general and Little Rock in particular. Little Rock essentially imported gangs from Los Angeles, when a few California gang members found fertile ground for their ideas among young Arkansans looking for identity, recognition, belonging, discipline, love and respect, he said. Using videos and slides to punctuate his message, Nawojczyk said the dynamics between Republicans and Democrats are often not much different from Crips and Bloods, except politicians don't use guns.