Stratton Quoted in Dayton Daily News Story Titled “Ohio Spends $202,502 to Jail Each Juvenile Offender”

Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office who prior to joining Vorys served as justice on the Supreme Court of Ohio for 16 years, was quoted in a Dayton Daily News story titled “Ohio Spends $202,502 to Jail Each Juvenile Offender.”  The story was about a recently released study that queried 46 jurisdictions in the United States to find the direct and indirect cost of locking up juvenile offenders in state facilities.

The story states:

“Former Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, an advocate for juvenile justice reform, said there have been concerted efforts in the state to keep as many youthful offenders close to home in rehabilitative settings rather than locked behind bars in institutions.

State money saved by not sending offenders to DYS was funneled to the locals to move this effort along. Now, for the most part, only the worst of the worst offenders are in DYS. The high cost comes in because they need intensive treatment and highly trained staff at those institutions.

‘The problem is now you have a concentration of the really bad eggs, so to speak — the kids who have really serious issues. It’s probably not even possible to put them into diversion programs, and because of the crime they committed, they probably really should be in that facility” Stratton said. “So you really need a higher level of staff and a higher level of staff training.’”

To read the entire story, visit the Dayton Daily News website.