Additional information
by Michael Bradley (Author)
A critical examination of the legal system's failure to protect rape survivors in Australia.
One in five Australian women has experienced sexual assault, yet less than 1% of rapists are convicted. This book exposes the systemic flaws that silence survivors, offering a stark choice: report and risk re-traumatization, or remain silent. Michael Bradley argues that the legal system, designed without survivors in mind, fails to address their needs and questions.
System Failure calls for a fundamental shift in how we respond to rape, prioritizing the voices and needs of survivors. It challenges the current conversation, advocating for legal reform and trauma-informed practices to restore agency and justice. This book is for professionals, scholars, and anyone seeking to understand and change the systemic response to sexual violence. Discover the truth behind the system's failure and the path towards a better future.
Author Biography
Michael Bradley is a lawyer and writer. As managing partner of Marque Lawyers, a commercial firm with a strong human rights interest, Michael has become directly involved in work for sexual violence survivors and advocacy for reform in that area of the law. In his work with dozens of survivors as well as leading experts in the field, he has observed consistent patterns in the legal system's response to these survivors and their experiences within that system--patterns that are at once deeply disturbing and clear pointers to why the system continues to fail.
Michael is the Chair of the Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy Initiative (RASARA), which leads policy reform in this area. He is also a widely published essayist on legal and social justice issues, with a regular column in Crikey and previously The Drum, as well as other media including The Saturday Paper and Australian Financial Review. His book Coniston, on the last massacre of Aboriginal people, was released by UWA Publishing in 2019.
