Justice in Jeopardy: The Life Trials of Chief Judge Antoinette Kennedy AO by Thomas Mackay

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges, with all corners now protected with book tape.

She was Western Australia's first woman judge and by far its most controversial.

For almost nine years she was the only female judge in the state justice system, condemned by politicians, journalists, rednecks and some of her fellow judges as being too emotional and too soft on crime to serve on the Bench. A champion of feminism, she fought tirelessly to reduce blatant discrimination in the law and the community against women lawyers.

Despite her critics, she rose to become Chief Justice of the District Court of Western Australia, only the third woman in Australia to head a superior court. There, her reforms turned around a court which then had the distinction of having the worst criminal trial delay in the nation.

In this remarkably frank biography, which covers the highs and lows of her 40 years in the justice system, Antoinette Kennedy breaks her silence on the campaign driven by senior figures in the legal system to damage her career. She calls for greater community support in the fight against crime, urges major changes to justice-system funding, and warns of the dangers posed by public campaigns that aim to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

Her strong views on the main social ills threatening society make a compelling contribution to the debate on law and order in Australia.