Jenny joined the Flinders Law academic staff team in 2006 after working at Adelaide Law School for ten years. She has taught and researched in a wide range of topics over the years predominantly in criminal law, human service/social work law, and family law. A key focus is law reform and the integration of criminal law and human service law.

Jenny researches primarily on religious domestic and family violence and holistic interdisciplinary responses to it. Her h-index is 5 in law based research, with 78 citations. 

In 2019-2023 Jenny undertook a PhD on responses to domestic and family violence against Christian women. Her thesis is 'Embodied Justice: An Integrated Faith-Law Response for Christian Women Experiencing Domestic and Family Violence in Australia' (Flinders University, January 2024). 

Jenny has previously lectured at UniSA teaching law to social work and social science students and worked at their Research and Education Unit on Gendered Violence on police responses to family violence. She served on the Management Committee of the Centre for Crime Policy and Research at Flinders University from 2015-2019. She is a member of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide Domestic and Family Violence Working Group.

Jenny's research projects are: 

Marinella Marmo, Andreas Cebulla, Kate Seymour, Hossein Esmaeili, Nada Ibrahim and Jenny Richards, "Independent Review of the Operation of the Paid Family and Domestic Violence Entitlement in the Fair Work Act 2009" (2024 Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, $241,000).

Helen McLaren, Jenny Richards, Emi Patmisari and Clara McLaren, 'Co-Designing a Conceptual Model for a Residential Aged Care Facility for Prisoners' (2024 - 2025, Office of Aging Well, South Australian Government, $25,000). 

Hossein Esmaeili, Jenny Richards, Marinella Marmo, Lana Zannettino “Family Violence Among Afghan Refugee and Asylum Seeker Women in South Australia: Improving Engagement with the Criminal Justice System” (2019, Law Foundation of SA Grant No A551-9.18, $25,601). 

Jenny is co-author of Integrating Human Service Law, Ethics and Practice, which has been a key text in the field nationally and internationally since its first edition in 2004.  

Rosemary Kennedy, Jenny Richards, and Tania Leiman, Integrating Human Service Law, Ethics and Practice (2016, 4th ed, Oxford).

• criminal law reform and practice
• theology, legal ethics and legal theory,
• family violence and child protection
• the relationship between law and human services.

Domestic and Family Violence in Australia

Associate Professor Andreas Cebulla

Professor Marinella Marmo

Dr Kate Seymour

Dr Nada Ibrahim

Associate Professor Hossein Esmaeili

Domestic and Family Violence and Islam

Associate Professor Hossein Esmaeili

Professor Marinella Marmo

Associate Professor Lana Zannettino

Domestic and Family Violence and Christianity

Associate Professor Lorna Hallahan

Domestic and Family Violence and Islam 

Associate Professor Helen McLaren

Criminal Law Reform

Emeritus Professor Rick Sarre

Professor Luke McNamara