P087 - Responsibility and Mitigated Punishment for Homicide Crimes – To What Extent Did the Reform Change?

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

The 2019 homicide reform in Israel added a new offense of killing under circumstances of diminished responsibility, which adopted most of the conditions stipulated in the former Section 300a of the Penal Code, which dealt with mitigated punishment for murder crimes. Section 300a had been in effect for 24 years. The study examined the implementation of Section 300a over 22 years to assess whether the purposes of the section were achieved and whether the new offense is justified and could resolve issues in implementing the section while better achieving its underlying goal - determining fair punishment based on culpability, offense circumstances and background in exceptional borderline cases mentioned in Section 300a. Socially, it examined whether an appropriate solution was provided for killing an abuser by the victim. The research relied on data from three legal databases, analyzing all published criminal rulings following Section 300a discussion - 166 cases total. Analyzing Section 300a use allowed for examination of the application of mitigated punishment while maintaining criminal liability for murder, which is not accepted elsewhere. Findings show that Section 300a, based on mitigated punishment and strict prosecutorial discretion, failed to achieve legal and social purposes for its 1995 enactment. Reforms fundamentally changed Section 300a conditions by adopting diminished responsibility and a mitigated penalty threshold, fixing core issues in Section 300a, but several issues still remain unresolved. Socially, findings indicate a troubling trend whereby most Section 300a mitigation requests involved domestic violence. Mostly, mitigation was sought and granted to men killing wives.

Authors

• Eitan Nicotra, Director of Forensic Laboratory, Ashkelon Academic College, Israel

• Judith Abulafia, Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel

• Khalid Ghanayim, Faculty of Law, University of Haifa