Meet Stephen

From Northampton, for Northampton

Stephen G. Baratta was sworn in as Northampton County’s District Attorney on January 2, 2024 and is leading the charge to reforming the DA’s office to ensure the needs of our community are met.

Stephen graduated from Bangor Area High School in 1974, Lafayette College in 1978, and Fordham University School of Law in 1981.  He was admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1981, when he began his private practice in Easton, Pennsylvania. In 1992, Baratta was appointed to be the First Assistant District Attorney for Northampton County.

Stephen was elected Judge in November 1997 to the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas for a ten-year term, commencing January 1, 1998. In 2007 and in 2017, Baratta was retained for his second and third terms. In 2013, Baratta was elected President Judge for Northampton County and served for five years until his term expired in May of 2018. For the last fifteen years, he has been the Administrative Judge of Juvenile Court, and as part of his duties and responsibilities he oversaw the operations of the Northampton County Juvenile Justice and Treatment Center.  He also served as Administrative Judge to Domestic Relations, the Asbestos Docket, Criminal Court, and Custody Court. During his 25 years serving as Judge, he has presided over many civil and criminal trials and earned a reputation for being tough but fair while finding new solutions to improve the County’s judicial system. Stephen announced his retirement from the bench in November 2022. 

Decades of trusted leadership and service to our community

Until his retirement from the bench, Stephen Baratta was a member of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges (PCSTJ).  In 2014, Stephen was elected President of the PCSTJ.  Stephen has also participated in various committees for the PCSTJ, including the Education Committee, Corrections Committee, and Executive Committee.  Additionally, Baratta is a frequent lecturer for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, PCSTJ, the Northampton County Bar Association, and other educational programs related to legal and judicial education.  He has also taught trial practice at DeSales University. Today, Stephen is serving Northampton County as District Attorney— a role he assumed on January 2, 2024.

Stephen Baratta has a history of governmental service, beginning in 1985 as Solicitor of Northampton County Children and Youth, where he was charged with prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases for the Agency.   In 1990,  he became an Assistant County Solicitor, where his duties included representation of the Northampton County Department of Human Services.  Throughout his career, Baratta has been active in community service, serving on the boards of several community organizations, including the Board of Directors of VIA of the Lehigh Valley, Inc. (a successor organization to both Lehigh Valley Association of Rehabilitation Centers, Inc. and United Cerebral Palsy) and Easton Boys and Girls Club. 

 Baratta Helped…

  • Address Inequities In Our Bail System by reducing our overreliance on cash bail for low-level offenders. Our efforts resulted in the elimination of the overcrowding at Northampton County Prison producing significant savings for our taxpayers.

  • Expand Our Juvenile Justice Center to become the first treatment center to provide treatment programming to both male and female offenders. Expansion of our juvenile treatment center to outside counties allowed Northampton County to generate over two million dollars a year in outside revenue paid into the County’s general fund.

  • Revamp Orphans Court Instituting court control and supervision over our incapacitated citizens, by creating a cadre of professional guardians who report directly to the court and are charged with overseeing, serving, and protecting the elderly and incapacitated with regard to their necessary care.

  • Lead the Efforts to Construct the New Domestic Relations Building, which included two courtrooms dedicated solely to resolving the caseload of over 10,000 child support cases, providing financial support to our children suffering from the disintegration of their parents' relationships.

  • Revamp the Criminal Court (1) creating our Drug and Alcohol and Mental Health problem solving courts which are designed to allow citizens struggling with these conditions to avoid incarceration by participating in intensive treatment programs designed to restore sobriety and capacity for our citizens. (2) creating diversionary sentencing and treatment programs for DUI defendants, and(3) instituting court control over the processing of the District Attorney’s caseload.

  • Redesign Our Custody Process by creating a full-time custody master charged with assisting parents through mediation, so that parents have the opportunity to resolve their custody disputes without court involvement.

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