Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure tests legality, culpability and the path from complaint to appeal. The West Bank applies the Jordanian Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 and its criminal procedure law; Gaza applies Egyptian-based penal and procedure codes. The Palestinian Basic Law guarantees fair trial, personal liberty and the presumption of innocence.
Core rules
- No crime or penalty without a prior legal text; no retroactive punishment.
- Territorial jurisdiction, intent or negligence, participation, attempt and defences.
- Procedure: complaint, investigation, prosecutor, detention review, right to counsel, trial, appeal.
Worked example
Police arrest D for theft and obtain a confession before allowing access to a lawyer. At trial D retracts. The court must examine voluntariness and whether the confession was obtained in violation of procedural guarantees. If it was, the confession is excluded; the prosecution must prove the elements independently. A conviction based solely on the retracted confession is unsafe.
Traps
Mixing West Bank and Gaza codes; treating arrest as punishment; missing detention-review deadlines; ignoring the difference between a confession and a plea. Also check whether the offence is time-barred.