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| Legislation | | | Witness Protection Authority |  | | | Authorities of the Minister | | | | Family Group Conferences | | | | Forfeiture of Profits from Publications Describing Offenses | |  | Legislation Protecting Minors from Sex Offenders | | | | Video Conference | |
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| Legislation to Protect Minors Against Sex Offenders |
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In 2001 the 15th Knesset passed into law M.K. Yuval Steinitz’s bill prohibiting the employment of sex-offenders in institutions giving service to minors. A document from the Knesset’s Research & Information Center, dated 8th July 2003, shows most male sex offenders are convicted more than once for a sex offense and that in many cases of offenses against minors the perpetrator was employed to work with children (as instructor, driver, security guard, teacher and so on) despite having a record of sexual assault on children.
The tendency of sex-offenders to repeat-offend, and in particular with respect to offenses against children, is well known. It is also well-known that they look for jobs in workplaces giving them access to minors. Many of these jobs also give them authority and/or influence over children. These facts were the background to the 2001 legislation.
The Act lays down that: “No employer may employ an adult in an institution before obtaining confirmation from the Israel Police that there is no obstacle under this Act to employing the said adult.” And that: “No adult convicted under Subsection (a) above of this Act shall be employed in an institution”. In Section 3(a)1 ‘institution’ is defined by a listing of the institutions giving service to minors among others (such as schools, sports centers, summer camps, transport services, etc.).
The provisions of the Act apply to every adult convicted of a sex offense committed at an adult age and for which he (at this stage the Act applies to men only) was sentenced to at least a year’s actual imprisonment (Section 2a). The effect of the Act’s provisions lasts from the date of the conviction to 20 years after release from prison for that offense.
The Act came into effect on 1st March 2003, and in July of that year the regulations were published governing obtaining the required police clearance. The Act applies to both employee and employer. The maximum penalty laid down for an employer who employs an adult without obtaining the necessary clearance is 67,300 NIS and for an employee, up to a year’s imprisonment. The Act applies to every person accepted for employment since 7th August, 2001, in an institution intended to give service to minors.
Despite all the above, in a debate on 5th April 2004, in the Knesset’s Committee on Children’s Rights it was reported that, to that date, only 1,333 requests for police clearance under the Act had been received, many fewer than the number of workers requiring such clearance. A sample survey carried out by the national Council for the Welfare of the Child discovered that awareness of the Act was minimal. |
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לגרסת הדפסה |
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