CRIMINAL JUSTICE

SYSTEM OF ISRAEL
INTRODUCTION

 Israel’s criminal justice system is closely tailored after the common-law system. The
Penal Law and the Evidence Ordinance both originated from the British Mandate days
and the Criminal Procedure was heavily influenced by common law.
 Israel has a democratic parliamentary system based on three government branches:
executive, legislative and judicial. The head of the executive branch is the Prime Minister,
who is answerable to Israel’s Parliament, known as the Knesset. The President of the State
of Israel, who is elected by the Knesset for a term of five years, fulfils mainly ceremonial
national functions. The three main functions that are given to the President consist of
pardoning offenders, inviting the heads of the different parties to consultations in order to
form a new government after elections, and appointing judges to all the courts.
 The Knesset is formed by 120 members elected nationally through a party
ballot list. The normal length of a Knesset term is four years; yet, the
Knesset can vote itself out at any time and order new elections.
 The Judicial Branch is formed by three levels of courts: Magistrates’ courts, District
Courts and the Supreme Court. Concerning matters of personal status there are religious
courts from the main religious groups that live in Israel: Rabbinical Courts, Sharaic
Courts and Druze Courts. The State Comptroller is the authority that supervises the
activities of the government and other public institutions.
 Israel’s criminal justice system is closely tailored after the commonlaw system; the Penal
Law, 5737-1977, is basically an Ordinance of the British Mandate days; the Evidence
Ordinance [New Version], 5731-1971, is from the days of the Mandate; the Criminal
Procedure Law [Consolidated Version, 5742-1982, has a very strong common-law
influence; furthermore, judicial decisions play a significant role on the development and
consolidation of the criminal law in Israel. On July 25, 1994, the Penal Law (Amendment
No. 39 – Preliminary Part and General Part), 5754-1994, was approved and will enter into
force a year from that date. This new law consolidates in a very continental fashion the
principles of criminal justice that were until then disseminated through different sections
of the Penal Law, 5737-1977, and through the decisions of the Supreme Court, handed
down during the 46 years of existence of the State of Israel.)
 It is a centrally governed state. Consequently, the entire criminal justice system is based on a national
division of legal regions. For this purpose the Nation is divided into six main districts. In each of these
districts there is a District Court and a District State Attorney’s office. The District State Attorney is
responsible for the prosecution of felonies. In each region there are a number of magistrates’ courts.
Legally trained police officers are in charge of the prosecution of contraventions and misdemeanors. The
legal system is adversarial. There is no jury, and all cases are decided by professional judges. The
prosecution is generally the responsibility of the State Prosecutor’s Office. The defendant may be
represented by an attorney during all stages of the criminal process. This report has a section on crime
that discusses the classification of crimes and crime statistics. A section on victims addresses the groups
most victimized by crime, victims’ assistance agencies, the role of victims in prosecution and sentencing,
and victims’ rights legislation. In profiling the police, a section focuses on administration, resources,
technology, training and qualifications, discretion, and accountability. Other sections discuss
prosecutorial and judicial process, the judicial system, penalties and sentencing, prisons, and extradition
and treaties.