“Achieving Justice” With Judge Alison Breaux, candidate for re-election, Summit County Common Pleas Court

Judge Alison Breaux is an advocate and champion for mental health, justice and equality.

In this latest installment of Justice Jennifer Brunner’s “Achieving Justice” video series, Judge Breaux talks about her experience as a judge of the Summit County Common Court of Common Pleas General Division and what it has meant for her. She reflects on the intersection between criminal justice and mental health in her work as a jurist and as the court’s presiding judge and works to be a strong advocate for equal access to resources and information.

Judge Breaux is running for re-election as judge of the Summit County Court of Common Pleas in the upcoming November election. She assumed this position in 2016.

Prior to Judge Breaux’s judicial career, she spent nearly a decade practicing criminal defense law, often representing those with little to no resources. In 2012, she was appointed as a Magistrate of the Akron Municipal Court and after five years on that bench, she was elected to the Summit County Court of Common Pleas General Division in 2016. Over the years, she found and fostered her passion for mental health, equality, and public service, and developed and founded the first felony mental health court in Summit County in 2018. The Healing, Opportunity, Progress, and Empowerment court (HOPE) is a 2-year program that provides criminal defendants that have been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses the resources and support necessary to leave the criminal justice system and improve their quality of life. She has been married for over 20 years and has three teenage children.

Justice Brunner started "Achieving Justice" in 2020 during her campaign for the Ohio Supreme Court. The program educates individuals about Ohio's judicial system and the judges and candidates for judge who serve and wish to serve their state and community. A new Achieving Justice interview is to be released each week. All of the 2022 Achieving Justice interviews can be found here. 

“Serving the people and the cause of justice is one of the most important callings in our democratic system,” Justice Brunner said. “I believe that the more information the public has about the courts, their judges, and judicial candidates, the stronger our system is.”

Justice Brunner is a candidate for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court in 2022.