Convicted sex offenders are walking around unsupervised, following dozens of unusual requests submitted by the State Attorney's Office to the court to cancel the opinion assessing their dangerousness.
The reason for this is that the Ministry of Health urgently canceled contact with a recognized criminologist who performs dangerous assessments, and informed the State Attorney's Office that there was a substantial confidential professional problem in all the opinions. As a result, many sex offenders are found without any supervision, and in some cases there is no certainty that they can be returned, even though they are sex offenders who have been diagnosed as dangerous.
For months now, behind closed doors in courts across the country, real drama has been taking place. At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Health's Center for Hazard Assessment urgently notified the State Attorney's Office that it had terminated its contract with a recognized and respected criminologist due to "information that is medically confidential."
The Center for the Assessment of Dangerousness claimed that there was a professional problem in all the opinions it gave recently. According to the Center's report, the problem was born at the beginning of 2022, so dozens of reviews should be canceled from that date.
Adv. Anat Misad Canaan, Photo: Liron Moldovan
What are the reviews? The "Protection of the Public from Sexual Offenses" law allows the state to supervise released sex offenders for years, if a court approves the prosecutor's request for a supervision order against the offender.
Such a request is based mainly on an opinion of the Institute for the Assessment of Dangerousness, which states that the released offender still poses a danger to the public. As long as the order is valid, it is possible to apply for a new order or extend its validity, depending on the assessment of dangerousness.
Another use of the opinion is in the case of convicted sex offenders, and the court is considering whether to sentence them to a sentence they will serve in the community, rather than by way of actual imprisonment. The possibility of a lenient sentence depends on an opinion that diagnoses low risk.
Adv. Dafna Vakhnish, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Following the Center's announcement, the State Attorney's Office began special staff work, carried out by Adv. Dafna Vakhnish, who coordinates the field of protecting the public from sex offenders in the State Prosecutor's Office, and by Deputy State Prosecutor for Criminal Matters, Adv. Shlomo Lemberger.
The request was denied
The State Attorney's Office has filed dozens of requests with the courts to cancel the criminologist's dangerous assessments. Due to the urgency, in some cases the State Attorney's Office notified the judge of the request on the day that a hearing was supposed to be held regarding the risk assessment of the request for a supervision order, and in many cases the notice was given a few days before the order expired.
In the requests, the attorneys reported the Center's announcement, and did not specify the reason for the termination or what the problem was in the opinion. The attorneys in the various districts argued that the request should be left open, and that it would suffice with canceling the opinion and allowing it to be refiled.
Adv. Shlomo Lemberger, Photo: Tzachi Miri
The reason for this is the desire to keep supervision of the sex offender until a new opinion is received. In addition, in cases where the date of the order has expired, the State Attorney's Office may nevertheless submit a request for a supervision order.
Judge's warning
However, most of the judges rejected the prosecutor's arguments altogether, and canceled the requests and orders, because they relied on an opinion that the State Attorney's Office itself no longer trusts.
One of the judges even warned about the significance: "There is no supervision and monitoring order regarding the respondent" - the dangerous sex offender.
In another case, a judge hinted: "This does not express an opinion on whether a new application can be filed." That is, there is a legal question of whether it is possible to submit a new application for a supervision order after it has expired, and even more so if the offender refuses to go for a diagnosis.
The State Prosecutor's Office believes that it will be possible to file new applications based on old materials, but this has not yet withstood a court test. This month, the State Prosecutor's Office began submitting new opinions, and in some cases reinstating supervision of several sex offenders.
The defense will update
Following the wave of decisions, Adv. Pnina Cohen-Shander, who is in charge of representing sex offenders in the Public Defender's Office, issued a directive on behalf of Adv. Anat Misad-Canaan, the Chief Public Defender, that "requests for supervision orders should be requested immediately."
Cohen-Shander raised another issue: "As for the cases that have been concluded, after an update we receive from the State Attorney's Office regarding their conclusions, we will decide how to act and update you." Since the beginning of 2022, there have been many closed criminal cases in which sentences were received based on the opinion of the dangerousness assessor.
The State Prosecutor's Office is examining the possibility of notifying defense attorneys in all cases in which these sentences were received, so that they can exercise their rights. As of today, the evaluation center and the State Prosecutor's Office are still examining the scope of the cases.
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