The Suspended Sentence: Israel's Experience'(1979)

In the suspended sentence, or as it is sometimes called, the conditional sentence, the defendant does not serve a sentence upon conviction. Service of sentence is postponed for a period of time. Whether the defendant actually will serve any sentence depends upon whether he abides by the conditions of postponement or suspension. Typically, the condition is that he shall refrain from committing additional crimes, sometimes without limitation, sometimes of a specified class.

There exists in the literature considerable debate over the value of the suspended sentence as a penal device, with the harshest criticsm coming from the Anglo-Saxon countries which share a strong preference for probation. Israel stands somewhere between these poles. While the legal tradition bequeathed her upon emerging into independence was Anglo-Saxon, she has, ever since, sought wisdom in other traditions as well, with the result that Israeli legislation has on occasion produced interesting and unique devices. The suspended sentence is, in my view, a case in point, worthy of being made known to a wider audience.