Biography

Sworn into office on January 7, 2003, Patrick C. Lynch, 40, became the 72nd person to hold the office of Attorney General since its inception in 1650. A former State prosecutor, he has made reducing juvenile crime the centerpiece of his administration, believing that the career criminals of tomorrow start off as the youth offenders of today. “No serious discussion about Rhode Island’s quality of life or economic health can exclude issues such as bullying, truancy, school violence, and the accessibility of guns in our communities,” he says.

Since taking office, Attorney General Lynch has had a strong voice in the shaping of legislation aimed at strengthening the state's criminal justice system, advancing the rights of victims, and affording additional protections to consumers. In the past two legislative sessions, he has successfully lobbied for passage of his bills strengthening drunken-driving laws, linking school attendance rates with teenagers' driving privileges, enhancing school safety plans, and penalizing adults who buy alcohol for minors.

Through his “Toy Gun Bash” program, Lynch has stressed the importance of gun-safety awareness throughout Rhode Island. He has emphasized community prosecution, pairing a State prosecutor with the personnel of each of the Providence Police Department’s nine neighborhood precincts, to ensure timely and effective prosecution of crimes such as breaking and entering, larceny, assault, robbery, and drug-related offenses.

The Attorney General has visited a school a week-making 55 such visits in the 2003-2004 academic year-to speak to children about making good choices in their lives. “Talking to kids in their classrooms is better than prosecuting them in our courtrooms,” the Attorney General tells parent and teacher groups. He has also been an unwavering advocate for the Rhode Island Judiciary’s anti-truancy and anti-drug initiatives, the Truancy and Drug Courts. In August 2005, the New England Association of Drug Court Professionals presented Attorney General Lynch with its President’s Award for his “support of drug courts and their graduates.”

As a Special Assistant Attorney General from 1994 to 1999, Attorney General Lynch prosecuted cases at every level of Rhode Island’s criminal justice system and led the State’s prosecution of gang-related offenses. He won three major trials, and obtained five murder convictions, in Superior Court in 1999. He worked for one of Rhode Island’s top law firms until the 2002 election, which capped his first campaign for public office.