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Penal Law, 5737-1977

חוק העונשין, תשל"ז-1977

Published: 1977-08-04Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2026-07-02 · Last amended 2026-06-30✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-28
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

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Section C: Suspended Sentence

Suspended Sentence [11/18]§
52.
(a)Where a court has imposed a sentence of imprisonment, it may direct in the sentence that the punishment, in whole or in part, shall be suspended.
(b)
(1)A person sentenced to a suspended sentence shall not serve his punishment unless he commits — within a period determined in his sentence that shall not be less than one year and not more than three years (hereinafter — the suspension period) — one of the offences determined in the sentence and is convicted of such an offence (hereinafter — an additional offence) within the suspension period or thereafter;
(2)Where a person has been convicted of an electoral offence, the suspension period in respect of an additional offence that is an electoral offence may exceed three years, provided it does not exceed five years; for the purposes of this paragraph, "electoral offence" —
(1)an offence under the Elections to the Knesset and to the Prime Minister Law [Consolidated Version], 5729-1969;
(2)an offence under the Local Authorities (Elections) Law, 5725-1965;
(3)an offence under the Elections (Methods of Propaganda) Law, 5719-1959.
(c)The suspension period shall commence on the day of sentencing, and if the convicted person is concurrently serving a sentence of imprisonment — on the day of his release from imprisonment; however, a period during which a prisoner is outside prison by reason of release on bail under Section B of Chapter III of the Criminal Procedure Law [Consolidated Version], 5742-1982, by reason of special leave or under Section B-1 of Chapter VI, shall be regarded as an accumulated suspension period added to the suspension period determined by the court; all of the foregoing where the court has not directed otherwise.
(d)The determination of offences under subsection (b) may be made by specifying a category of offences or by detailing particular offences, whether by way of description or by way of citing statutory provisions; where a statutory provision is cited and it is subsequently repealed and another provision takes its place, the sentence shall be deemed to cite the other provision.
53.§

(Repealed — תשס״ד־5)

Imprisonment in respect of an Additional Offence [11/20]§
54.

Where a court has imposed a sentence of imprisonment in respect of an additional offence, it shall not direct that such punishment shall be wholly suspended.

Activation of a Suspended Sentence [11/21]§
55.
(a)Where a person sentenced to a suspended sentence has been convicted of an additional offence, the court shall order the activation of the suspended sentence.
(b)In an order under subsection (a), the court may direct that the activation of the suspended sentence shall be subject to the outcome of the appeal against the conviction in respect of the additional offence.
(c)An order under this section shall be made by the court that convicted the person in respect of the additional offence, and it may be made by any judge of that court.
Extension of the Suspension Period [11/22]§
56.
(a)The court that has convicted an accused of an additional offence and has not imposed on him in respect of that offence a sentence of imprisonment may, notwithstanding the provisions of section 55 and in lieu of ordering the activation of the suspended sentence, order, for reasons that shall be recorded, the extension or renewal of the suspension period for an additional period not exceeding two years, if the court is satisfied that in the circumstances of the case it would not be just to activate the suspended sentence.
(b)The court shall not exercise the power under this section except in respect of the first conviction of the accused for an additional offence.
(c)Where the court extended the suspension period for an additional period before the expiry of the suspension period, the additional suspension period shall commence upon the expiry of the suspension period; where the court renewed the suspension period after the suspension period has expired, the additional suspension period shall commence from the day of the judgment, all of the foregoing where the court has not directed otherwise.
Suspended Sentence Imposed by a Military Court [11/23]§
57.

For the purposes of sections 54 to 56, a suspended sentence imposed by a military court within the meaning of the Military Justice Law, 5715-1955, shall have the same status as a suspended sentence imposed by a court, unless the court that convicted the person in respect of the additional offence was of the opinion that the offence in respect of which the military court imposed the suspended sentence was a military offence within the meaning of that law.

Consecutive Periods of Imprisonment [11/24]§
58.

A person upon whom a sentence of imprisonment has been imposed in respect of an additional offence and against whom the suspended sentence has been activated shall serve, notwithstanding the provisions of section 45, the two periods of imprisonment consecutively, unless the court that convicted him in respect of the additional offence ordered, for reasons that shall be recorded, that the two periods, in whole or in part, shall be concurrent.

Commencement of Activated Imprisonment [11/25]§
59.

A person against whom a suspended sentence has been activated shall commence serving it on the day of the order activating the imprisonment, unless the court has ordered that it shall commence on another day.

Appeal [11/26]§
60.
(a)An order under sections 55 to 59 is subject to appeal.
(b)In an appeal against the conviction in respect of the additional offence, an appeal against such an order may also be included, if no separate appeal has been filed against it under this section.

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Section D: Fine

Scale of Fines§
61.
(a)Notwithstanding any law, where a court is empowered by law to impose a fine, it may impose —
(1)where the offence carries a sentence of imprisonment of up to six months or a fine only, or a fine for which no amount has been prescribed — a fine of up to NIS 14,400;
(2)where the offence carries a sentence of imprisonment of more than six months and not more than one year — a fine of up to NIS 29,200;
(3)where the offence carries a sentence of imprisonment of more than one year and not more than three years — a fine of up to NIS 75,300;
(4)where the offence carries a sentence of imprisonment of more than three years — a fine of up to NIS 226,000.
(b)This section shall not derogate from a provision empowering the court to impose fines in amounts exceeding the amounts referred to in subsection (a) or from the provisions of section 63.
(c)Where a law prescribes for a continuing offence a fine or an additional fine for each day of the offence, the court may impose, in lieu of that fine — a fine of up to NIS 1,400.
(d)This section does not come to alter the amounts that the court is empowered to impose as a fine for non-compliance with an order in matters of testimony or the production of documents or for contempt of court.
62.§

(Repealed — תשנ״א־3)

Fine According to the Value of the Damage or the Benefit [11/29]§
63.
(a)In respect of an offence in which the accused intended to cause pecuniary damage to another or to obtain a benefit for himself or for another, the court may impose on the accused a fine of four times the value of the damage caused or the benefit obtained by the offence, or the fine prescribed in the enactment, whichever is the greater.
(b)Where a person has been convicted of an offence and received something as a reward for its commission or as a means for its commission, the court may impose on him a fine of four times the value of that thing, or the fine prescribed in the enactment, whichever is the greater.
(c)In determining the amount of the fine under this section, the court may take into account, inter alia, the effect that payment of the fine will have on the ability of the accused to compensate the injured party for the damage caused to him by the offence.
(d)The determination of the fine according to the value of the damage caused or the benefit derived shall be according to their value on the day of commission of the offence or on the day of the court's decision, whichever is the greater.
Updating of Fines§
64.
(a)The Minister of Justice may, by Order, amend the rates of fines prescribed in any law, in accordance with changes that have occurred in the index since the index published in the month in which they were last prescribed.
(b)Rates of fines shall not be increased under this section before six months have elapsed from the day of the previous increase.
(c)In this section —

"index" means the consumer price index published by the Central Bureau of Statistics;

"fines" includes ceilings for fines that the law empowers to prescribe and includes the ceiling for compensation referred to in section 77.

65.§

(Repealed — תש״ם־4)

Time for Payment of Fine [11/32]§
66.
(a)A fine that has been imposed shall be paid immediately, but the court may order that the fine be paid within a period and subject to conditions that it has determined, and it may determine that on the amount of the fine whose payment has been deferred, or on part thereof, shekel interest shall be added as referred to in section 67(b) in respect of the period of deferral.
(b)Where the court has determined that the fine shall be paid in instalments, the provisions of section 71 shall apply in respect of each and every instalment.
Fine Not Paid on Time§
67.
(a)A fine that has not been paid, in whole or in part, by the prescribed time, shall carry a late payment supplement at the rate of 30 percent of the fine or of the part thereof that was not paid, as the case may be (hereinafter — the late payment supplement).
(b)On a fine that has not been paid by the prescribed time, in whole or in part, shekel interest and late payment charges shall be added during the period of default until payment, and the provisions of the Adjudication of Interest and Linkage Law, 5721-1961, shall apply with the necessary modifications; in this Section, "late payment charges" and "shekel interest" — as defined in the Adjudication of Interest and Linkage Law.
(c)The prescribed time for the purposes of this section is as referred to in section 66, and if the fine was imposed otherwise than in the presence of the accused or his defence counsel — thirty days from the day on which notice of the sentence was sent by post to the accused or delivered to him in the manner in which documents may be delivered under law.
Collection of the Late Payment Supplement [11/32b] [5733]§
68.
(a)For the purposes of collection, the late payment supplement shall have the same status as the fine, however section 71 shall not apply to the supplement.
(b)An amount paid or collected on account of a fine to which a late payment supplement has been added shall be credited first against the late payment supplement.
Exemption from Payment of the Late Payment Supplement, Shekel Interest and Late Payment Charges [11/32c] [5733]§
69.
(a)The court or the Registrar may exempt a person, upon his application, from payment of the late payment supplement, the shekel interest and the late payment charges, in whole or in part, if satisfied that there were reasonable grounds for non-payment of the fine or part thereof by the prescribed time.
(b)The application for exemption shall be in writing and shall be supported by an affidavit attesting to the facts set out therein; the court or the Registrar may decide on the application on the basis of the affidavit alone or in the presence of the applicant alone.
(c)A decision of the court or the Registrar is subject to appeal as any other decision of that court in a civil matter, if leave therefor has been granted by the maker of the decision.
Collection of Fines [11/33]§
70.

Where a fine has not been paid by the due date, the provisions of the Tax Ordinance (Collection) shall apply to its collection as if it were a tax within the meaning of that Ordinance.

Imprisonment in lieu of fine [XI/34] [5733]§
71.
(a)A court sentencing a person to a fine may impose on him imprisonment of up to three years in the event that all or part of the fine is not paid on time, provided that the period of imprisonment in lieu of fine shall not exceed the period of imprisonment prescribed for the offence in respect of which the fine was imposed; where the offence carries a penalty of fine only, or where the offence was a strict-liability offence as referred to in the latter part of section 22(a), the period of imprisonment in lieu of fine shall not exceed one year.
(b)(Repealed)
(c)Where a person has served imprisonment pursuant to subsection (a), he shall not be liable to pay the fine and the surcharge; where he has served part of the period of imprisonment, he shall not be liable to pay that part of the fine proportionate to the period for which he served imprisonment, and the surcharge for which he remains liable shall be calculated according to that part of the fine in respect of which he did not serve imprisonment.
(d)Where imprisonment has been imposed pursuant to subsection (a) and, before the period of imprisonment has ended, part of the fine is paid, the period shall be reduced in proportion to the ratio of the amount paid to the total fine.
(e)A person on whom imprisonment has been imposed for non-payment of a fine shall serve it in addition to any other imprisonment, including imprisonment for non-payment of another fine, whether the other imprisonment was imposed in the same trial or in another trial, unless the court has directed otherwise.

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Section D-1: Service for the Public Benefit

Community service§
71a.
(a)A court that has convicted a person and has not imposed on him actual imprisonment may, in lieu of any other punishment or in addition thereto, order him by order to perform, during his leisure hours and without remuneration, an activity or service for the benefit of the public or another person (hereinafter, in this Section – community service), for a period, for a number of hours and in accordance with a programme, all as the court shall determine in the order; such an order shall hereinafter be called a "service order".
(b)Where a court has found that a defendant committed an offence, it may make a service order even without a conviction, in addition to probation or without it, and having done so, the service order shall, for the purposes of section 9 of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance [New Version], 5729-1969, have the same status as a probation order.
(c)A court shall not make a service order unless it is satisfied, on the basis of a report by a probation officer, that arrangements have been made in accordance with a detailed programme that will enable the convicted person to perform the service.
(d)The court may prescribe in a service order such directions and conditions as it considers necessary to ensure the performance of the service and the supervision of its performance by the convicted person.
(e)The court shall explain to the convicted person in plain language the meaning of the order, the purpose of the service and its particulars, and shall warn him that if he fails to comply with the order he will be liable to the consequences referred to in section 71d; the court shall not make a service order unless the convicted person has expressed his willingness to comply with the directions of the order.
(f)Community service shall be under the supervision of a probation officer, who may enlist the assistance of others for that purpose.
Period of service order and its variation§
71b.
(a)The period of validity of a service order shall not exceed one year; however, the court may extend it for special reasons that shall be recorded, provided that the quota of hours of work shall not exceed the quota of hours with which the convicted person was charged at the outset.
(b)The court that made a service order may – upon the application of a probation officer or upon the application of the convicted person – review the order, vary it, prescribe new directions therein or cancel a direction contained therein, all as it considers just in the circumstances of the matter.
Obligations of the person ordered to perform service§
71c.

A person ordered to perform community service pursuant to this Section shall carry out the service imposed on him by the order, in accordance with its terms, and shall comply with the directions of the probation officer designated by the court or of any person appointed by him for that purpose, in all matters connected with the service.

Breach of service order§
71d.

Where it has been proved to the satisfaction of the court that made the service order that the convicted person has failed to comply with the service order, it may –

(1)if the service order was made without a conviction – cancel the service order, convict him and sentence him for the offence on account of which the service order was made (in this section – the original offence);
(2)if the service order was made after conviction without any additional punishment – cancel the service order and impose on him a punishment for the original offence in place of the service order;
(3)if the service order was made after conviction in addition to another punishment – cancel the service order and impose on him an additional punishment for the original offence in place of the service order, having regard, inter alia, to any punishment imposed on him for the original offence.
Regulations§
71e.

The Minister of Labour and Welfare may, after consulting with the Minister of Justice and with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset, make Regulations for the implementation of this Chapter, including in respect of the reimbursement of expenses connected with the performance of community service.

Status of the person performing service§
71f.

A person ordered to perform community service pursuant to this Section shall not be regarded as an employee of the person for whom or through whom he performs the service.

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