Shaked presses forward with reform for minor-suspects' rights

The initiative broadens protections for minor-suspects which were already set down by a major change in law in 2008 and was in the works under Shaked's predecessor, Tzipi Livni.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Updated: MAY 30, 2016 00:17
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (photo credit: REUTERS)
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is pressing forward with a bill to strengthen the rights of minors being interrogated for allegedly committing crimes.
It is expected to be raised in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation toward the end of June, her office confirmed on Sunday.
The initiative would broaden protections for minor-suspects that were already set down in a major change in law in 2008 and was in the works under Shaked’s predecessor, Tzipi Livni.
But the current justice minister’s political capital may be bringing insufficient additions to the budget to get it across the finish line.
For example, an increasing number of interrogations of minors have been videotaped, but the current bill would require the videotaping much more explicitly and in more situations.
The bill would also further empower the parents of minor-suspects, make more explicit how minors must be told their rights, and apply the 2008 protections even to interrogations outside of police stations, such as in hospitals or out in the field.
There are still exceptions to the protections in security cases, which critics will say undermines the importance of the reforms.
The reforms may also be reviewed by the IDF for possible application to Palestinian minor-suspects in the IDF’s West Bank Courts, but only after the Knesset passes the bill into law.