Equality before the Law Bench Book

Equality before the Law Bench Book
Providing for community and individual difference in court proceedings

I am the editor of the Equality before the Law Bench Book, for the Judicial Commission of New South Wales.

The Equality before the Law Bench Book provides NSW judicial officers with:

– statistics and information about the different values, cultures, lifestyles, socioeconomic disadvantage and/or potential barriers in relation to full and equitable participation in court proceedings for nine different groups of people; and
– guidance about how judicial officers might need to take account of this information in court — from the start to the conclusion of court proceedings.

It provides guidance only and is not meant to be in any way prescriptive.

The Equality before the Law Bench Book is available to download as a complete PDF document or as individual sections.

Equality before the Law Bench Book — Complete document

Preliminary pages
Section 1 — Equality before the law
Section 2 — Indigenous people
Section 3 — People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
Section 4 — People with a particular religious affiliation
Section 5 — People with disabilities
Section 6 — Children and young people
Section 7 — Women
Section 8 — Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals
Section 9 — People whose gender identity may be an issue
Section 10 — Self-represented parties
Section 11 — Your comments
Index and Tables