The Criminal Trial in Law and Discourse - by T Kirchengast (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This book examines how the modern criminal trial is the result of competing discourses of justice, from human rights to state law and order, that allows for the consideration of key stakeholder interests, specifically those of victims, defendants, police, communities and the state.

Review Quotes

'The intensifying importance of criminal courts, not just as arenasfor the administration of justice but as venues for the construction and expression of dominant societal values, needs little labouring after the disorder that spread across the UK in the summer of 2011. Seen in this light, andby his thoughtful and painstakingly researched intervention, Tyrone Kirchengast has added impetus to the criminal trial as a field of critical enquiry. As such, this book should be read not only by legal scholars and criminologists, but also by concerned citizens who wish to critically evaluate - and contest - the orthodoxies of the world around them...' - Dexter Dias, QC, The Howard Journal, February 2012

'...this book should be read not only by legal scholars and criminologists, but also by concerned citizens who wish to critically evaluate - and contest- the orthodoxies of the world around them, and who will not baulk at a confrontation with a though-provoking but specialist book.' - The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice

About the Author

TYRONE KIRCHENGAST is a solicitor, barrister and Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia. His research focuses on various facets of criminal justice, including victims of crime, law and governance, and the development of institutions of criminal law and justice. He is author of The Victim in Criminal Law and Justice.