Book Review: Her Honor

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Her Honor

Author: LaDoris Hazzard Cordell 

Publisher: Celadon Books 

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Her Honor: My Life on the Bench...What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It is the memoir of Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, the first African American woman to be appointed to the Superior Court of Northern California. Judge Cordell gives a behind the scenes look into the legal system and points out the positives and negatives of it's current workings, using examples of some of the cases she presided over. Based on her experiences, she provides a list of ten problems with the legal system, along with detailed solutions to each issue.

Her Honor is an incredibly complex and thought-provoking book; I had to step back and absorb the book for awhile before writing this review. I loved the way that Judge Cordell presented the material in this book: it's honest, straightforward, fact-based, and even includes some humor at times. The topics can be quite heavy at times, and she provides the reader with an in depth look into her decisionmaking process for the cases, while also leaving the reader to formulate their own opinions. A highlight for me is Judge Cordell stating that she has the mindset that juveniles can be rehabilitated; I really appreciated these sections of the book. There were some moments that I may not necessarily have agreed with, but I understood her arguements and liked that she was able to spark conversations on potentially controversial topics using facts and evidence. This is how these conversations should be had.

Thanks to Celadon Books for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.


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