Israel's military courts are legally authorized to impose capital punishment in terrorism cases, yet no executions have been carried out since their establishment in 1967. This study examines how military judges systematically navigate between maintaining capital punishment as a theoretical option while consistently avoiding its imposition or implementation. Drawing on Dan-Cohen's concepts of "acoustic separation" and "selective transmission," the analysis reveals three interconnected judicial strategies to avert the death penalty: procedural mechanisms creating administrative barriers to execution; strategic use of religious and cultural references establishing solidarity with relevant audiences; and linguistic techniques simultaneously denouncing terrorism while justifying the avoidance of capital punishment. Military courts maintain legitimacy in a complex conflict zone by balancing public demands for harsh punishment of perpetrators of terrorism with institutional constraints and security considerations. While expressing strong condemnation through culturally resonant references, judges systematically invoke procedural rules to convert death sentences to life imprisonment. This study contributes to understanding judicial decision-making in conflict zones and illuminates how the Israeli military courts navigate competing demands in politically charged environments.
This article argues that the use of algorithmic sentencing in the criminal justice system can be in tension with the state's duty to respect the human dignity of offenders. Sentencing law in many legal systems requires judges to make complex normative judgments about a person, their conduct, and how the state may treat them in light of that conduct. These judgments implicate an offender's dignity because they engage with their self-understanding as a moral agent and their sense of worth as a human being. However, algorithms and other forms of predictive artificial intelligence do not engage in anything like the kind of normative reasoning that sentencing law demands. Accordingly, when the state substitutes one or more elements of this normative reasoning with an algorithm's output, it risks failing to respect the offender's moral status. Treating the normative judgments sentencing law demands as mere empirical predictions is not only a category mistake but a failure to justify the sentence and to recognize the offender as a moral agent.
The principle of mandatory prosecution (MP) is respected, extensively applied, and has a long-standing tradition in continental European countries, and it is highly valued in socialist nations. However, in recent decades, there has been a notable shift in its implementation within these countries, with numerous studies reflecting this change by presenting diverse perspectives on the necessity to alter, modify, or preserve this principle. One of the primary aims of this paper is to examine the scope of research on responses to MP and the main reasons for maintaining or renewing MP highlighted in related publications. This paper employed a systematic literature review (SLR) to search the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases, compiling a total of 28 papers spanning 50 years. These articles cover a wide range of countries and diverse jurisdictions currently applying either MP or discretionary prosecution (DP) principles. Furthermore, the literature review includes various arguments and discussions on how countries should respond to MP. Findings indicate that MP persists due to its enduring values, such as legality and equality, alongside its significant role in safeguarding the criminal justice system against arbitrariness and abuse of power. Our paper also reveals that the tendency to renew or replace MP is influenced not only by conflicting opinions but also by political factors and the consideration of victims' discretion in certain offenses, particularly in cases of domestic violence. Additionally, three options for reconciling MP and DP principles are proposed to aid readers in understanding the transition process between these two fundamental principles. Ultimately, the paper advocates for further research on MP in current or former socialist countries, where applicable.
