Judge Hershey
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Judge Barbara Hershey is a fictional character, part of the fictional universe recounted in the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.
Shortly after her graduation from the Academy of Law, Judge Hershey was the surprise choice to join the crew of the Justice 1 for the dangerous deep-space mission to find the Judge Child, who had been abducted by the Angel Gang. Working closely with Judge Dredd every step of the way, she came through the mission with great credit and was highly commended in his personal log. Hershey returned to the streets of Mega-City One a tougher and infinitely more experienced Judge, but she was ill-prepared for the attack of Fink Angel some months later, when he came seeking revenge on the Judges responsible for the deaths of his brothers and his Pa. The young Judge barely escaped, but she had already developed a knack for survival - a knack which came in useful during the Apocalypse War when Hershey was called upon again by Judge Dredd to join his Apocalypse Squad.
After the war, Hershey was promoted to Senior Judge and when Chief Judge McGruder resigned her position four years later, Hershey became the youngest ever member of the Council of Five. Her meteoric rise up the Justice Department's 'greasy pole' saw her hotly tipped to become Chief Judge in due course, but she denied any real ambitions in this direction. Even so, she soon experienced the power that goes with the office when she was asked to sit in as acting-Chief Judge while McGruder - back for an unprecedented second term of office - attended a crisis meeting of Judges from all over the world to find a way to defeat Sabbat the Necromagus. Hershey was later part of the delegation of Senior Judges who tried to convince McGruder to re-form the Council of Five - inactive since the Dark Judges had controlled Mega-City One - but the Chief Judge refused to comply, as she suspected Hershey was after her job.
McGruder's judgement had definitely become questionable, but she insisted on remaining the only voice at the top of the Justice Department until one of the Mechanismo robots she was so enthusiastic about tried to kill her. Realising her error at last, McGruder wasted no time in tendering her resignation and she entrusted Judge Hershey - along with SJS Chief Niles and Psi Chief Shenker - with the job of running the Justice Department until a new Chief Judge could be selected. Hershey was the only one of those three who actually put their name forward for the post, expressing her desire for more open government. Her views did not go down well with her colleagues, however, and she received only 13 votes in the ballot among Senior Judges, while the new Chief Judge, Hadrian Volt, romped home with 208.
Hershey eventually became Chief Judge following the suicide of Volt at the end of the Second Robot War.