ABC7 hosts forum for Los Angeles County DA candidates Gascón and Hochman

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The candidates for Los Angeles County District Attorney - incumbent George Gascón and challenger Nathan Hochman - met Sunday for a candidate forum hosted by ABC7.

Anchor Marc Brown moderated the discussion as they addressed issues related to our criminal justice system and who is best suited to run the country's biggest DA office. The two candidates described each other's plans as extreme, with Gascón saying Hochman is someone who vows to put everyone in jail.

"Basically going back to the days of mass incarceration," he said.

Hochman portrayed Gascón as someone who wants every criminal to walk free.

"They'll be arrested in the morning and out by the afternoon," he said.

Both disagree with those descriptions, but Gascón, who's running for reelection, was repeatedly forced to defend his record. While he disputed statistics that crime is up during his tenure, he admitted, for most people, those numbers don't matter.

"I recognize that while violent crime is down, fear is up, and I know people in our community often do not feel safe," he said.

Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, says Gascón's policies are to blame, pointing to juveniles who steal from stores and receive little to no punishment.

"Mr. Gascón has a policy, it's right there in black and white, that says juveniles will not be prosecuted for misdemeanors," he said.

Gascón said there are no free passes, even for minors, and claims Hochman doesn't understand the law, or the job, as head of the DA's office.

"It is the Juvenile Probation Department that makes the decision as to whether to bring the case to the prosecutors or not, but I understand that Mr. Hochman has never dealt with juvenile law and he obviously doesn't understand it."

While there weren't any personal attacks by either candidates during the hour-long forum, there were some subtle - and not so subtle - jabs.

"People's eyes don't lie, but Mr. Gascón does."

"My opponent continues to mischaracterize not only the policies but the law," said Gascón.

Hochman offered a different direction, one where criminals are worried about punishment if they break the law.

"Deterrence is all about criminals not committing the crimes because they understand where the lines are, and they understand where the real consequences are," he said.

Gascón, leaning into his current policies, said being too aggressive can lead to different problems.

"We will go back to the day of coercing people, and sometimes innocent people will go to prison because they're fearful of the consequences if they go to trial," he said.