By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON - Two men with extensive legal experience in adult and juvenile courts are competing for a newly-created Butler County juvenile judge's seat.
Ronald Craft, a juvenile-court magistrate, is running against J.C. Shew, an attorney with 33 years of courtroom experience.
Mr. Shew, 58, of Middletown, worked as an assistant prosecutor in juvenile court in the mid-1970s, has practiced law in Middletown for 26 years and served as acting judge in Middletown Municipal Court.
He cites as one of his most significant court victories a 1998 case that gave employees who suffer emotional and psychological damage as a result of an employer's negligence the right to file suit against the employers.
Mr. Shew said that as a juvenile judge, he would be mindful of his responsibilities to protect the public, make offenders accountable for their actions, help victims and rehabilitate offenders when possible.
"You have to protect the public first," he said.
"But rehabilitation is an important part of juvenile court. If we can take offenders out of court and rehabilitate them, we absolutely should."
He said he would like to see juvenile court be more responsive to fathers who are trying to obtain visitation rights.
"I don't think they should have to wait four or five months to get a hearing," Mr. Shew said.
"The court is so overworked."
He received a "recommend" rating by the Butler County Bar Association, while Mr. Craft received a "highly recommended" rating.
Mr. Shew, who has been endorsed by the Butler County Democratic Party, said the bar association's ratings of judicial candidates is more of a popularity contest than an objective evaluation of a candidate's judicial qualifications.
But Mr. Craft, who has been endorsed by the Butler County Republican Party, strongly disagreed.
He said the rating process involves anonymous questionnaires sent to judges, defense lawyers and prosecutors, and an interview by a 12-person committee.
"The questionnaires are sent to your friends, enemies and people who don't know you," he said. "The ratings aren't based on popularity."
Mr. Craft, 53, of Fairfield was a judge advocate general in the U.S. Air Force and began practicing law in Butler County in 1979. From 1982 to 1987, he prosecuted felony cases, including the county's first death-penalty case to go to a jury.
From 1989 to 1996, he prosecuted cases in juvenile court. From 1996 to 2000, he was a court-appointed attorney in juvenile court.
Two years ago, he became a juvenile-court magistrate.
"I'm experienced in all types of cases in juvenile court - delinquency, child support, child custody, truancy and paternity," Mr. Craft said.
One of his best moments as a defense attorney, he said, was winning an acquittal for his client in an aggravated-murder case before a jury.
He said his knowledge of adult criminal law would be important as a juvenile judge because of Ohio's new juvenile delinquency laws this year that allow judges to sentence serious youthful offenders to a juvenile detention facility and also to hand them a suspended adult sentence.
These offenders would have the right to a jury trial.
"I feel real comfortable, if I'm elected, about starting to work on cases right away," Mr. Craft said.
"There's not going to be much of a learning curve for me."
Mr. Craft and Mr. Shew said their involvement in community youth activities and their experiences as parents would serve them well on the juvenile court bench.
"The new judge should have a sensitivity to the needs of the children," Mr. Craft said.
"Knowing children is a big step in that direction."
E-mail skemme@enquirer.com
