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    • ‘Systematic failure’: Over 80% of sex crime cases in Israel closed – Israel News
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    ‘Systematic failure’: Over 80% of sex crime cases in Israel closed – Israel News

    Online Niel Posted on

    While the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI) received 17,484 new complaints about incidents of sexual offenses in 2023only 6,405 cases of sexual offenses and sexual harassment were opened by the police in 2023, according to the ARCCI 2023 annual report.

    The types of complaints made to the police and ARCCI also differed, further highlighting the potential under-reporting of sex crimes to law enforcement.

    The most common type of crime for which ARCCI complaints were made was incest, with 36% of all complaints made. When looking at complaints made about crimes against children, about 70% of the complaints were related to incest. The next most type of common crime it was rape and 28% of the complaints were of that nature.

    However, when looking at the complaints made to the police, most were made about indecent actsand sexual harassment was the second most common crime reported to the police.

    In 11% of the complaints made to ARCCI, the offender was the victim’s parent, in 25% of cases it was another relative. In almost 20% of the complaints, the offender was a friend or acquaintance of the victim. In only 8% of cases, the offender was a stranger to the victim.

    Residents of Gedera protest against the horrific rape of a woman tonight in Gedera, February 3, 2023 (credit: FLASH90)

    Patterns differ from police to crisis centers

    Parents were the named perpetrators in only 3% of cases reported to the police, and strangers were named as the perpetrators in 34% of cases – further showing different patterns of complaint when victims turn to crisis centers versus authorities.

    “Complaints to the police tend to deal more with crimes in more distant circles compared to complaints to crisis centres,” the report points out.

    Over the past three years, there has been a moderate increase in the number of men and boys reporting sex crimes to the police – a trend that may indicate an increased willingness to report sex crimes against men, historically underreported due to the harsh stigma surrounding them crimes.

    Only 11 percent of complaints to the police were made by a non-Jewish victim, showing a significant underrepresentation compared to the role of the Arab sector in society, the report said.

    The ARCCI report also included data on allegations of sex offenses brought to police. While 133 complaints about sexual offenses committed by the police were made to the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigations Department, 66% of these did not reach an investigation stage, the report said.

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    The majority of these complaints (77) were related to sexual harassment, and the next most commonly reported offense (37) was an indecent act.

    When looking at incidents of sexual harassment, 88% of complaints did not lead to investigations by the PID.

    ARCCI head Orit Sulitzeanu called this infuriating, saying it “indicates that there is reason to be concerned about what is happening within the system itself”.

    The report also provided an overview of the sex crime data that has reached Israel’s prosecutor and judicial system. Some 4,823 cases were opened by Israel’s public prosecutor’s office, an increase of 7% compared to 2022.

    Most of these cases were opened for offenses of indecency. Some 663 indictments have been issued against 675 suspects, the report added. About 81% of cases were closed.

    “As every year, the majority of cases were closed due to lack of evidence,” the report said, adding that 43 were closed due to the statute of limitations.

    The statistics presented in the report paint a disturbing picture of “the mishandling of sexual violence by the law enforcement system,” Sulitzeanu said.

    “Closure rates of more than 80 percent of sex offender cases indicate a systematic and ongoing failure of the system,” she added.

    About 87% of the complaints received by ARCCI were about crimes against women and 13% were about crimes against men. Only 41% of complaints received were about crimes against people over the age of 18, with 28% of complaints about crimes against girls and boys aged 12 and under and 31% of complaints about crimes against those with age between 13 and 18 years. The sex of the offender was male. in 98% of cases reported to ARCCI.



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