Wichita ? Democratic attorney general candidate Paul Morrison says he would prosecute more juveniles as adults when they commit violent crimes, noting Johnson County consistently has tried more youths as adults than any other Kansas county.

At a candidates’ forum Tuesday night, Morrison, the Johnson County district attorney, said there is a dangerous category of juveniles who should be treated as adults if they pose a threat to public safety.

For lesser crimes, a dual-sentence system in place in Johnson County puts youths on probation but provides for adult sentences if they violate it, he said, adding that the county also has had success with a youth court for low-grade offenses.

Atty. Gen. Phill Kline said he supported the current juvenile court approach. The Republican incumbent said a partnership, not adversarial relationship, is needed with the parents of juvenile offenders.

Crime was the focus of the forum, hosted by Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence and the League of Women Voters of Kansas. About 100 people from the two groups were in the studios of KAKE-TV in Wichita for the invitation-only event.

Both men presented themselves at the forum as tough on crime.

Kline touted his efforts to expand prison space, his defense of the Kansas death penalty law before the U.S. Supreme Court and his work to toughen sentences for child rape.

Morrison pointed to lower crime rates in Johnson County since he became district attorney. “I have probably put more people in prison than any prosecutor in the state of Kansas,” he said. Conversely, he said Kline has never tried a case to a jury verdict.

Kline pointed to his experience in private law practice and cases his office has handled since he became attorney general.

On the issue of victim rights, Kline noted he removed the victim rights coordinator’s office from the criminal division and made it a stand-alone unit in the attorney general’s office to enhance its role.

But Morrison said under Kline’s watch as attorney general, that office has been disassembled, suffered incredible turnover and remains “a shell of itself.”