Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice

Eve Was Framed offers an impassioned, personal critique of the British legal system from a leading barrister, now a QC, well-known for her forthright views on miscarriages of justice. Helena Kennedy has chosen to look at 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. But the inequities she uncovers could apply equally to any disadvantaged group - to those whose cases are subtly affected by race, class poverty or politics, or who are burdened, even before they appear in court, by misleading stereotypes. In this book we meet women as lawyers, women as victims, women as defendants, women as killers. Its coverage is highly topical, considering, for example, Sara Thornton's defence of cumulative abuse against the charge of murdering her husband, or examining the implications of the Kennedy-Smith rape trial - but the lessons it teaches are enduring. Drawing on her wide knowledge of British procedure, and considering initiatives in Europe and America, Helena Kennedy shows that there is something very wrong with British justice, and suggests new ways of thinking for the future.
Repor