Expert on justice reform leads public safety research center
Juliana Stratton, former executive director of Cook County Justice for Children, is new head of the UIC Center for Public Safety and Justice in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.
Legal and government professional Juliana Stratton is new director of the Center for Public Safety and Justice.
The research center, founded in 1997 by the U.S. Department of Justice to support community policing and problem-solving techniques, recently became a part of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.
The center offers training, technical assistance and research. It maintains partnerships with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies.
Recent projects include a national protocol for law enforcement responses to missing persons with dementia, a procedural justice series for the King County (Washington) Sheriff’s Office and a revision of the Illinois Basic Law Enforcement Academy curriculum for best practices.
Stratton was executive director of Cook County Justice for Children, an independent nonprofit that promotes transparency and accountability by the Cook County Juvenile Court.
“I look forward to engaging the community around us in a dialogue about why public safety is an important aspect of urban planning and building strong communities,” she said.
Previously, Stratton was executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council and managed the criminal and juvenile justice reform agenda for the Cook County Board president. She is trained in Peacekeeper Circles, a preventative restorative justice model for elementary-aged students and teachers.
“Juliana Stratton’s understanding of the justice system, and of the critical need for restorative justice, will serve the Center for Public Safety and Justice well,” said CUPPA dean Michael Pagano.
For nearly 20 years, Stratton was president of JDS Mediation Services Inc., an alternative dispute resolution firm. She was a deputy hearing commissioner for the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection and an administrative law judge with the Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
Stratton earned a law degree from DePaul University and an undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism from the Urbana-Champaign campus. She taught negotiation skills at Loyola University’s Graduate School of Business and serves on the hearings board of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
