7. Duration of proceedings
A last indicator ISTIQLAL considered in order to assess the efficiency of Courts was the overall
duration of proceedings.
Both before Serious Crimes Court branches and First Instance Courts, most monitored cases
lasted less than one year from the referral of the case to the Court to the issuance of the first
instance judgment.
As shown in Chart 15 The Serious Crimes Court was on average much more efficient than First
Instance Courts, since 83.4% of the total number of cases were decided in under one year,
compared to 48,5% in First Instance Courts. Another remarkable difference is that all
monitored cases before Serious Crimes Court branches were completed within 17 months,
while over 40% of cases before First Instance Courts lasted two years or longer. Almost 20%
of cases before these Courts have been pending for over five years. As a result, the average
duration of a criminal proceeding before a Serious Crimes Court branch is less than one third
than that before a First Instance Court (8 months vs. 26 months). The First Instance Courts in
Hebron appear to be the worst-performing in this regard, while the First Instance Court in
Tulkarm appear to be the most efficient.
While this might appear surprising, considering that cases processed by the High Court are on
average more complex, the apparent difference in performance can be explained, at least in
part, with the fact that Article 12 of the Decree Law creating the Serious Crimes Court included
provisions allowing trials in absentia, which removed a procedural impediment (the
unavailability of the accused to the prosecuting authorities) which hindered proceedings in a
large number of cases tried before First Instance Courts.
Chart 15 - Average proceeding duration (months)
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Serious Crimes Court
First Instance Courts
As shown in Chart 16, some cases before First Instance Courts took an unreasonably long time
to complete. ISTIQLAL monitored a case before the Hebron Court which has been pending for
more than 18 years; a case before the Ramallah Court has been pending for 15 and a half
35