"My son Jonathan. He was murdered in 2007 in Santa Ana," says Debra Dizon Hernandez.
"I wake up three or four times a night, I don't sleep no more, you don't eat the same no more," says Jamiel Shaw, remember his lost son.
"You can't block it out," Shaw adds.
Shaw kicks himself everyday.
"I feel so guilty that I promised him, 'if you stay out of trouble, no going to jail, all this good stuff, you can get a reward," but where is the reward? There is no reward; he's dead, and the guy who murdered him is still alive," he says.
Shaw's son's accused killer had been released early from jail. At the Friday gathering, there were worries that budget cuts could release more.
"My commitment is to make sure that our laws are enforced and that our prison system works," says Attorney General Jerry Brown, pledging a fight.
At a separate gathering in Ventura County, the sister of murder victim Nicole Brown Simpson urges awareness.
"A crime can happen to anybody, and people need to understand that life is very short, and especially in a volatile world like we live in," says Brown.
Yet there is some consolation this year. The passage of Marsy's Law provides more rights for victim families.
All these victims demand more, beyond any law, they want ordinary people to end complacency and get as mad as they are.
"People in this city go along everyday worried about the elephant at the L.A. Zoo, and here you have kids, moms, dads, grandparents and everybody's dead," says Shaw.
"No one is complaining, no one is the streets with torches saying 'No More!' They just figure it's how it's supposed to be, and my thing is, it's not supposed to be like his; this is broke," Shaw adds.
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