Crime and Legal Control

Abstract

This paper deals with crime and criminalization of the Israeli Arab population during the military government (1948–66). It is argued that the instrumental use of criminal law—both in terms of content and methods of enforcement—played a major role in‘creating’ crime and delinquency among Arabs. Contrary to previous researches that have ignored the unique political and legal status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, this study examines the relationship between crime, law and politics, and focuses on those offences that increased in number as a result of the military rule. Most of these offences were violations of the restrictions imposed on Arabs throughout the period of the military government, based on the Defence (Emergency) Regulations 1945, and offences against laws which defined as illegal the very presence of many Arabs within the boundaries of the state. It is shown that these offences constituted a major part of crime among the Arab population in the 1950s and 1960s, and‘contributed’ largely to its high crime rates.

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