Jean-Jean, a French playwright and author (1986-1910) who was a pickpocket and prisoner in his youth, wrote of "Your World" vs. "Our World" And of justice. The judges need a "criminal" - even if the person is actually innocent. In his play "The Black," such a picture is described: "Judge: Who's to blame? (Silence). Don't answer? I'll come for you, one last time. Listen: It doesn't matter to us who exactly committed the crime, no matter if it is you or him, if a man is Man, a Negro is a Negro, and we have two arms, two legs to break, one neck to loop in, and our justice is satisfied. Come on, say a word. "

I recalled Jean-Jean's words when I read a report by Avishai Greenzeig in "Globes" (7.4.20) about a case that occurred in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, where a defendant awaiting trial at his home was surprised to find out, after his defense attorney asked to set a date for hearing the indictment, Who was actually convicted and sentenced. The investigation found that another defendant, who had appeared in court for a different case, reached a plea deal with the police prosecutor's representative, outside the courtroom, in which he would admit and be convicted in exchange for the prosecution being satisfied with a moderate sentence. Then they entered the court, the judge called on the defendant's home, the defendant in the court, his first name, replied, admitted, convicted and sentenced - recorded in the case and on the defendant's behalf ... 

Allegedly everything was corrected: The defense appealed, the prosecution reiterated the indictment and the district court acquitted the defendant who was wrongly convicted, a lesson was learned and the judges were instructed to ask defendants not represented by defense counsel to identify them with an ID card. But the case illustrates where we came from. Originally, criminal law was an extraordinary procedure, since it is the most severe measures taken by the state against the citizen, including impeachment and denial of liberty. Accordingly, in the past there were trials in which evidence was presented, and at the end the court would decide whether the guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, which was only then damning; Or there was at least a reasonable doubt that he would then be credited. Thus, in the 1970s the rate of credits was about 30 percent. However, after being inspired by Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak's takeover of Israeli criminal law in the plea bargain, today, in a vast majority of cases, no law is ever conducted and the percentage of credits has dropped by at least a percentage. Intrinsically, the innocent are also convicted, and the studies even point to the phenomenon of rational confession in the plea bargain industry: sometimes the decision to admit a misdemeanor that you did not outperforms the risk of conviction for a serious offense you did not commit. In such a reality, what wonder if we also got the wrong person convicted in the wrong case?

The case also shows how much it is necessary to set up a Government Institute for Criminal Justice. An innocent conviction is an accident like a bridge crash or a car crash. In the aviation field, the old-fashioned "fly-standard-fly" safety method used to be satisfied: a plane was flying until a malfunction was discovered, for example in a crash; The aircraft of the same type were grounded and the fault repaired; And the planes kept flying - until the next accident, and back again. This method only protects us from dangers that have already materialized. After World War II, when the cost of fighter jets became high, they were no longer satisfied in this way and moved to the modern method of safety: risk identification; Risk analysis; Risk control.

This is how aviation, transport, engineering, pharmaceuticals and other fields work today. But the criminal law is stuck in the "fly-standard-fly" era, and so the directive issued is that the judges, through identity cards, check the identity of the unrepresented defendants. Safety thinking must first of all verify the identity of the defendants represented; And second, to determine that the judges must review the evidence and make sure there is substantial evidence that the defendant did indeed commit the offense before being convicted. Even if, in the name of efficiency, you do not require proof of close to 100 percent as a trial, proof of guilt must not be waived completely and at least "50 percent" must be required prior to approval of a plea bargain. The plea bargain industry is not only unsafe, it is anti-safe and should be eliminated.

Prof. Boaz Sanjero teaches at the Law and Business Academic Center and at Sapir Academic College and the founder of the site "Review of the Criminal Justice System"