The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Conditional arrangement: The "bypass road" of criminal law - Walla! Sentence

2021-05-05T19:07:00.991Z


The mass brawls that have been sweeping Jerusalem recently are a prime example of a situation where even if a complaint is filed against those involved, it will likely end in a conditional settlement without the filing of an indictment. So what is a conditional arrangement? What does it include and is it the desired alternative in any "minor" offense?


  • Sentence

  • Criminal and traffic

Conditional arrangement: the "bypass road" of criminal law

The mass brawls that have been sweeping Jerusalem recently are a prime example of a situation where even if a complaint is filed against those involved, it will likely end in a conditional settlement without the filing of an indictment.

So what is a conditional arrangement?

What does it include and is it the desired alternative in any "minor" offense?

Tags

  • Criminal offense

Adv. Yair Moshiov, in collaboration with Legal Zap

Sunday, 02 May 2021, 09:58 Updated: 10:07

  • Share on Facebook

  • Share on WhatsApp

  • Share on general

  • Share on general

  • Share on Twitter

  • Share on Email

Detainee (Photo: ShutterStock)

Towards the end of last week the winds in the country began to heat up.

Dozens of rocket launches were recorded in the Gaza Envelope sector, while the capital, Jerusalem, became a violent arena of mass brawls every evening.

Unfortunately, in most cases, it is difficult to identify who was the person who ignited the explosive barrel that caused the same brawl, so in many cases no indictment is filed against those involved and they are transferred to a procedure called ‘conditional settlement’.

Conditional settlement is also a common practice in other offenses like drug offenses, theft and even certain violent offenses.

More on Walla!

Opponents of vaccines and jobs: what do you do and how do you deal with the new situation?

To the full article

What is a conditional arrangement?

This procedure allows - under certain circumstances and in certain cases only - to avoid the "ordinary" criminal procedure and end the whole case without trial, without conviction and with a lighter sentence.

Criminal offenses are divided according to the severity of sin, iniquity and crime. An offense that carries a maximum sentence of up to 3 years in prison is called a misdemeanor. In the past, anyone who committed an offense of a misdemeanor type was tried in the ordinary course of filing an indictment in court, which has many consequences such as: staining of the criminal record, impairment of the ability to obtain certain employment licenses To the US and other countries, inability to integrate into public work or government offices and more.



In many cases, the wide and offensive consequences of the criminal proceeding were disproportionate to the offense committed. Therefore, in 2013, the legislature created a new proceeding. This procedure makes it possible - under certain circumstances and in certain cases only - to avoid the "ordinary" criminal procedure and end the entire case without trial, without conviction and with a lighter punishment for misdemeanor-type offenses.



The main criteria that allow a case to be routed to a conditional arrangement are the type of offense (for example: assault - yes, but assaulting a spouse - no) and the suspect's past: he is not a repeat offender, has no other open cases and in the last five years Of conditional arrangement and more.

Common offenses in a conditional settlement

There are a long list of offenses in which a conditional settlement can be reached, the most common and everyday are:



• Holding cannabis (grass) for self-consumption - a common offense among the entire population, at all its various levels, which usually does not indicate criminal behavior.



• Simple theft - These are usually spontaneous or minor thefts of inexpensive objects, without prior planning and without the involvement of other people.



• Violent offenses - starting with a 'provocation', which describes a fight between 2 or more participants, in which it is not possible to point out a clear culprit;

Through "casual assault," which involves violence at the slightest level such as pushing or slapping, to an offense called assault that causes actual injury.

How to reach a conditional settlement

After committing an offense, the police conduct an investigation and gather evidence. The investigation material is finally submitted to the Criminal Police Prosecution Unit, which houses state attorneys, who review the investigation material and the suspect's data and decide whether to file an indictment and in what direction.



If they find that the circumstances of the offense allow it, and that the suspect himself meets the criteria for a conditional settlement, they will direct the procedure independently to the Claims Unit for the conditional settlement. After examining the details of the case, the suspect will be invited to a meeting at the unit's offices. The meeting is held without an indictment being filed, and at this stage the court is not at all aware of the existence of such a case. The suspect will be asked to sign a confession as formulated by the unit, and in return no indictment will be filed against him in court and his criminal record will remain clean. It is public works (service for public benefit, unlike "service works"), fines, compensation for the complainant and even certain restrictions such as expulsion, prohibition of contact and the like.



After signing the confession, and for a number of months, the case will be classified as a bail - awaiting clarification. During these months, this may be a temporary obstacle in recruitment procedures, etc., but if during this period the suspect meets the requirements of the agreement he signed - On the grounds of a 'conditional settlement' and he will be able to go on with his life as if nothing had happened.

From filing an indictment to a conditional settlement

The prosecution unit is, as stated, the one that determines whether to designate the procedure for filing an ordinary indictment or for a conditional settlement, but its decision is not necessarily the end of a verse.

There are cases where despite the prosecution's decision to file an ordinary indictment, the suspect's lawyer can divert the proceedings to a conditional settlement.



This is what happened, for example, in the following case: a car driver managed to stop at the last minute and avoid hitting a pedestrian who emerged into the crosswalk by surprise.

The frightened pedestrian kicked him in the bumper.

When the driver asked for his details, a slight brawl developed.

After the pedestrian approached the police, the driver of the vehicle faced two indictments - criminal for assault and traffic due to the "trampling".

As the driver’s attorney in the criminal proceedings, I was able to get the assault component out of the indictment, and end the case in a conditional arrangement on assault only.

In this way, the pedestrian was denied the ability to subsequently file a tort claim for the accident that did not occur.

Not at any cost

Although the conditional arrangement is, ostensibly, an "easy refuge" and an attractive deal for any suspect, this does not mean that it should be accepted without question. You may have objections regarding the proposed punishment or problem, in principle or legally, with the very allegations attributed to you. Your lawyer will understand how the wording of the conditional settlement may affect your future as well as parallel or additional cases that currently exist or may open in the future, and will negotiate the wording of the settlement and / or the penalty components, in order to arrive at the best solution for you. but certainly there, even a conditional arrangement would not be the right way or right and that although the proposal may be tempting, successful lawyer close the case and get you on your paths completely entitled.



Yair Moshayov

specializes in all aspects of criminal law for about 14 years



Phone:

077-8047133



Article courtesy of Zap Legal



The information presented in the article does not constitute legal advice or a substitute for it and does not constitute a recommendation for taking proceedings or avoiding proceedings.

Anyone who relies on the information in the article does so at his own risk

  • Share on Facebook

  • Share on WhatsApp

  • Share on general

  • Share on general

  • Share on Twitter

  • Share on Email

Source: walla

All news articles on 2021-05-05

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z
News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.