Public safety and justice research center names new director

Juliana Stratton, director, Center for Public Safety and Justice in the UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.

Legal and government professional Juliana Stratton has been appointed director of the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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 UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. The center offers training, technical assistance and research, and it maintains partnerships with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies. The center has produced 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 comes to UIC from a post as executive director of Cook County Justice for Children, an independent nonprofit that promotes transparency and accountability by the Cook County Juvenile Court.

“UIC is a great institution in the heart of the city,” Stratton said. “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.”

Previously, Stratton served as 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 a trained peace-circle keeper and longtime advocate of restorative justice.

“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 Michael Pagano, dean of the college. “I’m delighted that she has agreed to lead the center, especially at this critical point in the nation’s history, when recent events have proved again the need for understanding, restorative justice, and reform of our justice system.”

For nearly 20 years, Stratton was president of JDS Mediation Services, Inc., an alternative dispute resolution firm offering mediation and training in constructive conflict. She served as a deputy hearing commissioner for the Chicago Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection and as 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 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has taught negotiation skills at Loyola University’s Graduate School of Business and serves on the hearings board of the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission.