Last update - 00:00 29/09/2006
Law to protect public against sex offenders delayed again
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
A law designed to protect the public against sex offenders will not go into effect as scheduled on October 1, because a key element is still missing: The professionals whose job will be to assess the degree of danger posed by offenders, and determine the level of monitoring they require, have yet to be appointed.
The law was proposed over eight years ago by the National Council for the Child in order to protect minors, who constitute 50 percent of sexual assault victims. After several versions and much foot-dragging, the Knesset approved the law in December 2005 and stipulated that it be implemented as of January 2006. In January, however, it turned out that the Public Security Ministry, which was tasked with implementing the law, was not ready, while the Finance Ministry demanded that the Knesset repeal the law, on the grounds that it was approved through a faulty proceeding and against the treasury's wishes.
Eventually, after negotiations among the treasury, the Knesset and Public Security Ministry, it was agreed that the law would take effect on October 1. The Public Security Ministry pledged to find the money to set up an initial monitoring system for 2006, while the treasury pledged to give it NIS 3 million in 2007 to implement the first stage of the law. It was further agreed that the Israel Prisons Service would handle the monitoring.
Under the law, sex offenders would undergo a threat assessment during the court proceedings against them. The level of monitoring imposed on them would be determined according to the degree of danger they pose. An offender judged to pose little danger would only be required to submit his address and place of work to the monitoring body and report any changes. Offenders who pose greater danger would have to report periodically or even daily to a probation officer; they would also be forbidden to go to areas where they might slip up, to possess pornographic material or to consume alcohol; and the probation officer would even be permitted to check their computers to make sure that they are not surfing porn sites. Violating probation terms would result in a jail sentence of up to two years.
The probation order would last for up to five years, and a court would be able to renew it for a maximum 20 years.
Additionally, the names of sex offenders would be kept in a computerized database. They would be expunged if the offender is acquitted in court, or else 10 years after the probation order expires.
Initially, the law is supposed to apply to sex offenders who hurt children; it will then be extended to offenders who have been released on probation, and in 2011, also to offenders who have been convicted but not jailed. A total of 700 sex offenders are currently serving sentences.
Last week, the executive director of the National Council for the Child, Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, discovered that while the Prisons Service has formed a monitoring unit and recruited 12 workers and six vehicles, the psychologists, psychiatrists, criminologists and social workers who are supposed to perform the threat assessments have not been appointed. Kadman accused the health and welfare ministers, whom the law tasked with appointing these assessors, of shirking their duty for nine months.
"On October 1, a sex offender will once again get out of jail and be free to roam and hurt children," Kadman said. "First, they procrastinated on the law, then they split it among four ministers for reasons of prestige - because the public security minister and the justice minister and the health minister and the welfare minister all wanted in. And now, it turns out that except for one, none did what he should have."
Kadman appealed to the Health Ministry, where he was told that regulations must first be passed detailing the training required of the threat assessors, and that these are in the process of being finalized. A draft of the regulations was sent recently to the Welfare Ministry, which made revisions and sent it to the Justice Ministry. Welfare Ministry officials hope to get the regulations back after Yom Kippur. Then, once they have been signed by Welfare Minister Ehud Olmert and Health Minister Yacov Ben Yizri, the process of appointing the threat assessors can begin.