Craig J. MacLellan

Supports prioritizing rehabilitation over prolonged incarceration for young offenders, diversion programs for mental-health and substance-use-related offenses, alternatives to incarceration, and preventing recidivism.

“the prioritization of rehabilitation efforts over prolonged incarceration for young offenders”

craigmaclellan.com

MacLellan campaigns on bringing unprecedented transparency, accountability, and community involvement to the DA's office, including public budget meetings and data, public death-investigation appointments, conflict-of-interest policies, public safety forums in each community, and resident advisory boards that meet regularly with and evaluate the DA.

“I will have regular budget meetings and report budget data to residents; I will create open, concrete policies to identify conflicts of interests amongst police personnel at the outset of investigations; I will hold public safety forums in each community to educate residents about activity in their area and allow them to raise questions or concerns; I will create resident advisory boards that meet regularly with and evaluate the DA.”

cohassetanchor.com·As of August 2026

MacLellan wants to shift the Norfolk DA's office from a reactive model to a proactive, prevention-oriented public safety approach built on community input - holding public safety forums in each community, creating resident advisory boards that evaluate the DA, and partnering with community organizations to reduce recidivism and prevent crime before it happens.

“We need to make a purposeful shift to a model that emphasizes proactive, preventative efforts that rely on and involve community input. In this way, we can work to prevent crime before it happens, provide residents with true agency in their public safety programming, and ensure that the DA is spending public funds on effective initiatives that improve public safety.”

cohassetanchor.com·As of August 2026

Vows to review every conviction that involves incarceration and every case involving former state trooper Michael Proctor for possible bias; supports use of independent prosecutors to investigate alleged police brutality and policies to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest when prosecuting critics of the office.

“he would start a committee to review every conviction that involves incarceration in the county. ... MacLellan vowed to look at each case Proctor was involved with.”

cbsnews.com