Diverging interpretations of legal provisions amongst parties to the proceedings also contributed to this problem. Where defendants were convicted, detention was by far the most common sentence imposed, with fines imposed as the only penalty in a marginal number of cases (2.8% of cases before the Serious Crimes Court and 7.3 before the First Instance Courts). 1 elb T TRIAL OUTCOME (%) Serious Crimes Court Detention Fine Acquittal Lack of Jurisdiction Statute of limitations Immunity from prosecution Case terminated by Court1 Dropping the lawsuit Other 53,0 2,8 18,2 22,6 0,9 1,3 1,1 First Instance Courts 69,5 7,3 15,5 2,0 0,3 2,7 2,7 4. Prison sentences The present paragraph will focus on prison sentences imposed by First Instance Courts and will examine their length in absolute values (number of years of imprisonment imposed, regardless of the statutory penalty provided by the law) and their severity (whether courts imposed sentences equal to the statutory minimum, maximum, or in between). a) Length of prison sentences Almost all prison sentences imposed by Serious Crimes Court and First Instance Courts in the West Bank were below 15 years of imprisonment (97% and 99,5%, respectively). Sentences imposed by Serious Crimes Court branches on average were higher, as a likely result of the more serious types of cases falling under its jurisdiction. Over 50% of the sentences imposed by Serious Crimes Court branches exceeded 3 years of imprisonment, against just 34% of those imposed by First Instance Courts. Overall, sentencing by these courts was low, with almost two-thirds of sentences imposed by First Instance Courts below 3 years. Less than 10% of all sentences imposed by First Instance Courts exceeded 7,5 years of imprisonment, versus almost 30% of sentences imposed by Serious Crimes Courts branches. 1 The CPC Article establishes that the court may, on its own initiative, terminate criminal proceedings in certain specific circumstances, for instance when proceedings were initiated upon the injured party’s complaint and the injured party did not attend two consecutive sessions to which they were regularly summoned. 17