Justice
Evelyn Lundberg Stratton
March 7, 1996 - present
Last day of current term: Jan. 1, 2015
The following abbreviated biography may be used for an introduction.
Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, of the Supreme Court of Ohio, came to the bench by a very different route. Born to missionary parents in Bangkok, Thailand, she spent her childhood in Southeast Asia at the height of the Vietnam War. At age 18, she returned to America alone, with only a few hundred dollars in her pocket. In 1989, she became the first woman to be elected judge of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. It was there that she earned her reputation as “The Velvet Hammer” for her approach to sentencing in serious felony cases. She has served on the Supreme Court of Ohio since 1996.
Justice Stratton’s efforts in the community and her commitment to family have led to major changes in adoption law and significant mental-health reforms in the courts, both in Ohio and nationally. She focuses on trying to divert persons with mental illness from the court system back into care in the mental-health system. This reduces costs, improves public safety and helps people regain their lives. Her latest focus in Ohio and nationally is on establishing veterans courts to help those returning veterans with PTSD and other issues, whose problems may lead to involvement in the criminal justice system.
She also is a wife and a mother who enjoys painting, Thai cooking, and fly fishing with her husband.
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