A draft proposal forcing sex offenders involving minors to receive medical treatment passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum Wednesday.
Offenders will not be forced to undergo treatment; however, those who refuse to take it will be forced to endure a longer prison sentence.
According to the proposal, drafted by Kadima coalition chairman Eli Aflalo, the courts will have the authority to order medical treatment designed to repress offenders' sexual urges in cases involving minors under the age of 13, who are not family members. For this purpose, a committee of experts will be set up to determine the criteria defining a pedophile.
In the event that a convicted offender is defined as a pedophile, the courts will be entitled to order him to receive treatment in addition to other punitive measures imposed by the court. In the event that the offender refuses to accept treatment, he will not be entitled to parole and will remain in prison.
Alternately, pedophiles who wish to undergo chemical castration will be entitled to ask the court to commute the actual prison sentence with medical treatment as long as the prison sentence lasts no longer than two years. Those who revoke their decision midway will be entitled to cease treatment, but will have to sit out the remaining period of their sentence.
Another important clause in the proposed bill determines that a nationwide database will be set up and open to the public in which the personal details of pedophiles will be publicized. Details will include, name, photo, address, ID number and name used on the internet. These details, which will be posted on the internet, will assist the public in recognizing potential sex offenders who may be residing nearby.
Despite this, registration in the database will be erased within a seven year period if the pedophile does not commit further offences.
"This is a precedential and important bill, primarily aimed at providing effective tools for dealing with pedophilia," KM Aflalo said following the vote. "A society that wishes to protect its children against pedophiles on the one hand, and is aware of the difficulties of this phenomenon on the other, must take protective measures in dealing with it."
Not everyone supports the proposed bill: "There is a very clear and unequivocal limit regarding punitive measures in an enlightened state," said Labor KM Shelly Yacimovich who objects to the bill, explaining that a physical handicap cannot be inflicted as a form of punishment.
Dr Zvia Zeligman, a senior clinical psychiatrist at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, said Wednesday: "Preoccupation with the castration bill shifts the debate away from the main issue: Rape is not the result of sexual urge but rather a problem of violence and control." She added that such a bill should not allow society's leaders to shirk responsibility and directly handle the root cause of sexual violence. "Because this is a deep-rooted social problem and not an individual pathological one," she said.
The proposed bill which is being prepared for the first reading is supported by the government; however the Ministry of Justice conditioned its support on its involvement in the final drafting of the bill.
.jpg "Protecting society from pedophilia Photo: Gabi Menashe")
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