Stella Long Denton, 1940-

Stella Long Denton has seen the legal system from many different perspectives. She has been a probation officer, helped develop and then run the county's victim assistance program and now works with the youth before they get into trouble.

For 28 years Denton served in the Summit County's Adult Probation Department, working with all kinds of one-time and career offenders. During the course of her long career, she volunteered at the Halfway House for Parolees in the state of Ohio.

Denton never lost sight of the victim. For the victim of domestic abuse, she helped develop the first of the state's Battered Women's Shelters. She also helped to create the county's victim assistance program in 1972. That program was the first of its kind in the state and one of the first in the nation. That victim assistance program remained dear to her heart, even as she remained in the Adult Probation Department.

In the late 1980s, Denton, by then the supervisor of the adult probation department, retired. She then started a new career as an advocate for the Victim Assistance Program in the county. She was a hands-on person, providing the counseling where and when it was needed. She was with crime victims at the hospital; she accompanied them to the court hearings; she went to their homes to offer support. For 12 years she was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2001, Denton retired again and moved on to yet another career.

Now Denton is working with children, before they get into the criminal justice system. As a student services coordinator with Summit Academy in Akron, she works with special needs ADD/ADHD children and their parents. Research has indicated that 50 to 70 percent of ADD/ADHD children get into some difficulty with the law, Denton said. So she tries to redirect their energies into more positive paths and away from the criminal justice system.