Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice

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Those most susceptible to this injustice are women, the young, the working class, immigrants, the Irish, black people and homosexuals.

It comprehensively covers the 20th-century history of women in the criminal justice system in a variety of roles - lawyer, judge, victim and defendant - and illustrates the impact of misogyny throughout without being preachy. Kennedy's penchant for psychological explanation here reminded me of Joan Smith's work, but Kennedy is much more restrained, and never speculative. If we are to strike a balance, if we are to readjust participation and enrich our society with dialogue, we have to revise this way of thinking.Baroness Helena Kennedy’s Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice is so much more than a book about law.

Shocked at some of the arguments I read surrounding why rape in marriage shouldn't have been made a crime at that time - we should feel ashamed at how long it took us to change the law in this area.As a survivor myself I found the sections about sexual violence particularly illuminating and infuriating. Kennedy shares her own experience of coming up as one of the few female barristers and the ways in which archaic traditions are limiting the pipeline of female lawyers who could become tomorrow's judges - and thus the system is perpetuated. However, the key messages were sound and I would still recommend this to anyone of any gender with an interest in justice and the law.

When Kennedy says 'it's not just women' she ought to say 'it's not just white women' - the mixed-gender composition of 'other groups' tends to get lost in writing by white feminists.Helena Kennedy focuses on the treatment of women in our courts - at the prejudices of judges, the misconceptions of jurors, the labyrinths of court procedures and the influence of the media.