NATCHEZ &045; With the campaign season now in full swing, Democratic attorney general candidate Jim Hood met and greeted people Thursday at the Adams County Courthouse.

Hood, a resident of Oxford, now serves as district attorney for Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah and Union counties &045; the largest district in the state.

Before taking office in January 1996, Hood’s experience included serving as special assistant attorney general for five years and as a law clerk to former Chief Armis E. Hawkins of the state Supreme Court.

Hood said he has created many programs through his office some that focus on victims and rehabilitation for criminals.

Two handbooks have been published through Hood’s office: a drug and alcohol manual and &uot;A Victim’s Handbook on the Criminal Justice System.&uot;

&uot;After suffering a violent crime, victims of their surviving family members desperately need the comfort of knowing what will happen to the criminal who hurt them,&uot; Hood said.

&uot;Consequently, I have spent many years in my spare time developing this handbook that we will give to all victims of violent crime in our district.&uot;

More money needs to be spent in the area of rehabilitation and trade programs that can help divert potential criminals from incarceration, Hood said.

&uot;We spend money on being hard on crime but we have to treat the problem as a whole,&uot; he said.

Hood said that one way his office addressed the prevention issue was by videotaping life in prison and then showing the tape to teenage boys to discourage a life of crime.

Another issue Hood said he would like to focus on, if elected in November, is protecting the elderly from falling prey to such things as marketing schemes.