The two local candidates in the race for District Attorney made their case to voters this week, fielding questions at a Republican Q&A forum hosted by the Cullman County GOP. Incumbent Wilson Blaylock and challenger Champ Crocker found themselves agreeing in broad terms on the office’s top priorities, even as Crocker called for changes, saying the DA’s office needs to be more accessible to the public and more hands-on with offenders once their criminal guilt has been established.

Blaylock cited his 18-year track record in the Alabama 32nd Judicial Circuit’s top law enforcement position as the reason voters should return him for a fourth term. “I don’t defend criminals. I prosecute them,” he said. “I think that victims deserve a voice. That’s why I’m a prosecutor.”

Crocker said he’s seen the criminal justice system from both sides, and that he’d institute a number of day-one changes including the establishing of a “career criminal unit to deal with those offenders who have a long history; who disrespect the law; who are stealing your things.” He also pledged to utilize chaplains as victim advocates and to dedicate an assistant district attorney as a local schools liaison to address emerging drug issues among students.

Crocker also criticized the handling of parole hearings under Blaylock, saying the District Attorney’s office isn’t represented at the hearings, as jailed offenders and their victims weigh in before a judge on whether the offenders should be set free. “I will make it a point in my administration to attend parole hearings — either me or assistant district attorneys on my staff — to be there in order to argue on behalf of those victims,” he said.

Both candidates, though, agreed that the DA’s office is limited in influencing a judge’s final decision to release some convicted criminals before the expiration of their full sentences. “I think it’s a slap in the face of the victims when we cannot sit down with them and tell them with any kind of certainty how long the defendant will be in prison,” said Blaylock, noting that Alabama’s criminal justice system affords judges a wide berth in granting early release for nonviolent offenders.

“The sentencing standards that have been forced on us by the [state] legislature are ridiculous. It’s just a revolving door,” he said, pledging to work with local lawmakers to pass truth-in-sentencing reform to keep repeat nonviolent criminals behind bars.

Crocker said he would strive to inform crime victims of their legal access to information on an offender’s prison status — a right afforded by the state Department of Corrections that, he said, many victims aren’t aware of. “I have had two victims this year contact me and ask me how to go about doing this — how to get information about their offender in prison,” he said.

In addition to prosecuting criminals, Blaylock touted his record in backing local programs to deter criminal behavior before it starts, as well as to assist victims. One such program, the Helping Families initiative that Blaylock instituted during his current term, is aimed at detecting the aggravating factors that contribute to habitual school tardiness, absence, and disruptive behavior.

“We’ve got a multidisciplinary team that meets to determine whether they can help the child or the family,” he said, noting that the program’s goal isn’t to “prosecute the child,” but rather to “find ways that we can help in changing their actions.”

Blaylock and Crocker will appear as the two GOP candidates for District Attorney on the Cullman County ballot in the Republican Party primary election, which will be held on May 24. The victor in the primary will face no Democratic opposition in the November general election, and will be that election’s de facto winner.