Release from custody - Best lawyers

A knock on the door at 5 in the morning, a police raid on the house in front of the children, a surprising phone call from the police station, or a family member who disappeared and suddenly turns out to be handcuffed in a dark interrogation room. An arrest is not just a legal event; it's a personal and family earthquake. It's traumatic, it's frightening, and it deprives a person of their most basic right – freedom.

But it's important to know: an arrest is not the end. It's certainly not a conviction. It's just the beginning of a legal battle of minds. Welcome to the criminal law hub of LawReviews – the place where you'll understand how the system works from the inside, and how an experienced criminal defense lawyer fights to bring you home.

In the State of Israel, Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty unequivocally states that "there shall be no deprivation or restriction of the liberty of a person by imprisonment, arrest, extradition or otherwise." This is a constitutional fundamental right. And yet, reality shows otherwise: thousands of people are arrested every year in Israel. Some are repeat offenders, but many of them – too many – are completely normative people. Accountants, teachers, discharged soldiers, high-tech workers or business owners, who in a moment of inattention, business entanglement or false complaint, find themselves on the wrong side of the bars.

The difference between remaining in extended days of detention (which can turn into months of detention until the end of proceedings) versus being released home within 24 hours, almost always depends on proper management of the first "golden hours" and aggressive, smart and precise legal representation.

In this comprehensive and in-depth guide, we'll break down the frightening concept of "arrest" into its components. We'll understand the types of arrests, the grounds on which police seek to deprive liberty, the dynamics inside the courtroom, and most importantly – the legal ways to convince the judge to release the detainee, even when the suspicions against them are heavy.

Stages of Arrest and Legal Status

To fight for release, one must first understand which legal "box" the detainee is in. Israeli law (Criminal Procedure Law - Enforcement Powers - Arrests) distinguishes between several critical stages, with each stage having different rules and a different release strategy:

Initial Arrest (First 24 Hours – "Officer's Arrest")

This is the starting point. A police officer ranked superintendent and above has the authority to arrest a person without a court order for only 24 hours (and in rare cases slightly more).

During this critical period, the police conduct initial investigation actions and must make a decision: whether to release the suspect (with restrictive conditions such as distancing order or bail, or without conditions at all) or bring them before a judge for detention extension.

The Critical Tip: This is the "injury time" of the case. This is the most critical time for consultation with a lawyer. Mistakes made during interrogation in these hours – such as confession under pressure, waiving rights, or giving a false version out of fear – will haunt the suspect throughout the entire case. A lawyer who enters the picture at this stage can in many cases prevent reaching court and close the story at the station.

Days of Detention (Detention for Investigation Purposes)

If the police decide they need more investigation time, and believe the suspect is dangerous or might obstruct proceedings if released, they will bring them to Magistrate's Court for a detention extension hearing.

At this stage, the suspect is presumed absolutely innocent. The purpose of detention is not punishment (it's forbidden to detain a person to "teach them a lesson"), but preventive and investigative only.

The judge examines two main things:

Reasonable Suspicion: Is there evidence linking the suspect to commission of the offense? At the beginning the threshold is low, but as days pass, the judge demands that the suspicion thicken and strengthen.

Grounds for Detention: Is there a justified reason to keep them in detention? (We'll expand on this below).

At this stage, most information is confidential. The police submit to the judge a "secret report" that the defense attorney doesn't see. The lawyer fights "blindfolded" against classified material, and must use experience and intuition to convince the judge that investigation can continue even while the suspect is at home.

Prosecutor's Declaration Detention

This is a short intermediate stage (up to 5 days). The investigation has ended, and the police inform the court that the prosecution (or police prosecution) has formed an opinion and intends to file an indictment in the coming days.

At this stage, the police request to keep the suspect in detention only until the indictment is filed. Here too, one can fight for early release, arguing that if the investigation has ended – there's no longer concern about obstruction of proceedings.

Detention Until End of Proceedings

This is the hardest, longest and most frightening detention. After an indictment is filed, the state submits a separate request: to detain the defendant until a final verdict is given in their trial.

Since a criminal trial in Israel can last months and even years, this means very long deprivation of liberty, even before the person is proven guilty!

Here the legal battle is for all the stakes: will the defendant sit in prison during the trial, or conduct their defense while released (or under house arrest), surrounded by family and able to assist their lawyer.

Grounds for Detention – The Reasons Why the State Locks the Door

To release a person from detention, the lawyer needs to neutralize or "nullify" the "grounds for detention." The law states that a person will be detained only if one of the following grounds exists:

Dangerousness Ground (Public Safety)

This is the concern that the suspect, if released, will return to committing offenses and endanger public safety, state security or the safety of a specific person (for example, the complainant or victim of the offense).

There are offenses that establish "statutory presumption of dangerousness" (such as drug trafficking, weapons offenses, severe domestic violence). In these cases, the starting point is that the suspect is dangerous, and the burden is on them to prove otherwise.

How to refute it? The strategy is to show that this is a normative person without a criminal record, that this is a one-time stumble, or that the dangerousness is specific and can be neutralized through a "protective suit" – geographical distancing and tight human supervision that nullifies the dangerousness.

Obstruction Ground (Harm to Investigation Proceedings)

The concern that the suspect will be released and exploit their freedom to: Destroy evidence (delete messages, throw away computers). Coordinate versions with other witnesses or accomplices. Threaten complainants or witnesses to make them recant their testimony. Hide stolen property or crime proceeds.

How to refute it? The winning argument is usually "completion of investigation." If the police have already collected all key testimonies, seized phones and computers and conducted confrontations – then the suspect has no real ability to obstruct anything substantial. An experienced lawyer will argue that "the investigation has substantively concluded" and therefore the obstruction ground has dissipated.

Flight Risk Ground

A real concern that the suspect will exploit their release to flee the country and evade trial proceedings or serving a sentence. This ground is mainly relevant to foreign residents, dual citizens with foreign passports, people with many assets abroad, or people without a permanent address ("living on the street").

Detention Alternative – The Golden Key to the Prison Gate

The guiding and most important legal principle in Israel is: detention is the last resort.

Even if there is strong evidence, and even if dangerousness exists, the law requires the judge to examine anew at every hearing: "Can the purpose of detention be achieved in a way that infringes less on the person's liberty?"

This way is called a detention alternative.

The central role of the lawyer for "release from detention" is not just to shout "innocent," but to be a creative architect: to build, tailor and present the most appropriate and tight alternative package that will satisfy the judge that the public is protected even when the suspect is outside.

Common Types of Detention Alternatives:

Full House Arrest

The suspect stays at their home (or at relatives' home distant from the scene) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are under close and constant supervision of "supervising guarantors." They're not allowed to leave even for the grocery store or a walk with the dog.

Role of Guarantors (Supervisors):

This is the most critical element. The lawyer needs to prepare the supervisors for cross-examination in court. The judge will examine them with "tweezers": Are they authoritative over the suspect? Do they have a criminal record? Do they understand the magnitude of responsibility? And most importantly – are they capable of calling the police and reporting if the suspect violates conditions (even if he's their son)? A weak or hesitant supervisor will cause rejection of the alternative.

Electronic Monitoring (Technological Supervision)

This is an advanced technological tool allowing house arrest with tighter supervision. The suspect wears a bracelet (like a large watch) on their ankle, transmitting signals to a central control center. If the suspect leaves the defined range (door of the house), an immediate alert is received at the center and by police.

Electronic monitoring is considered a very effective tool that enables release even in relatively serious offenses, but it requires technical infrastructure (clean phone line, electricity) and involves preliminary feasibility assessment.

Distancing and No-Contact Order

In cases of domestic violence offenses, neighbor disputes or harassment, sometimes it's enough to distance the suspect from the city or street where the complainant lives, and prohibit them from making contact in any way, to nullify the dangerousness and achieve release.

Release on Financial Bail

Depositing cash in the court treasury, or signing a third-party guarantee for high amounts. The money serves as collateral ("sword above the neck") that the suspect will appear for investigations and trial and won't violate conditions. Violation of conditions will lead to forfeiture of the money to the state.

Court Hearing

The detention extension hearing ("arrests") is a fast, intensive, stressful event and often looks from the side like an "assembly line." One duty judge hears dozens of cases per work day. Each detainee is allocated only a few minutes to decide their fate.

In this pressure cooker, the true professionalism of your lawyer is measured:

Cross-examining the Police Representative: The lawyer stands before the police representative (detention advocate) and cross-examines them. The goal is to extract information from the classified file, find contradictions, expose investigation failures, and show that the investigation is "stuck" or recycling itself, and therefore there's no justification for continued detention behind bars.

Presenting Personal Circumstances: This is the time to "humanize" the detainee. To turn them from "file number X" into a flesh and blood person. To explain to the judge that this is a father of small children, a sick person needing treatment, a student before exams, or a business owner whose detention will cause economic collapse of many families.

Proposing the Alternative: Convincing, fluent and organized presentation of the supervisors and proposed alternative, emphasizing how this specific alternative neutralizes the police's specific concern.

Probation Service Report – The Tiebreaker

In complex cases (mainly in detention until end of proceedings, or in serious offenses at the days of detention stage), the court won't agree to take responsibility and release the detainee before receiving a professional and objective opinion from a "probation officer."

The Probation Service is a social body of the Ministry of Welfare, serving as the "long arm" of the court. The probation officer meets with the detainee (in prison), examines their level of dangerousness, their background, their behavioral patterns, and the quality of proposed supervisors.

At the end of the process, a detention report is submitted to the judge.

Positive Report: Recommends release to an alternative. This is a "golden ticket" on the way to freedom. Courts tend to adopt positive recommendations in most cases.

Negative Report: Determines there is high dangerousness, that the detainee doesn't take responsibility, or that supervisors are unworthy/too weak. A negative report makes release very difficult, but a brilliant lawyer can convince the judge to deviate from the recommendation (it happens, but requires intensive legal work).

Preparing for the Report

An experienced lawyer prepares the client for the meeting with the Probation Service. A wrong word there, disrespect, or misunderstanding of the situation, can lead to a negative report and seal the case's fate for many long months.

Release Strategies by Offense Types

Not all offenses are created equal, and release chances vary dramatically according to the severity of the act and nature of the offense:

White Collar Offenses (Fraud, Tax, Money Laundering, Bribery)

In white collar offenses the rule is almost always release. These offenses usually don't establish "physical dangerousness" to the public. The only ground is obstruction of legal proceedings. The strategy is to show that once the police seized computers, documents and phones, the sting was removed from obstruction capability. Usually the suspect can be released to house arrest or restrictive conditions within a short time.

Drug Offenses (Trafficking and Distribution)

In drug trafficking offenses there is a statutory "presumption of dangerousness." The system views drug dealers as "distributors of death." It's very difficult to release drug dealers to house arrest, unless the lawyer manages to prove significant weakness in evidence ("eroding evidence") – for example, problems in the drug chain, illegal search, or mistaken identification. Alternatively, release to a closed treatment facility (therapeutic community) for rehabilitation can be proposed as an alternative to detention.

Domestic Violence Offenses

This is a very sensitive and explosive field. Courts take a "zero risk" approach from fear of femicide or repeated violence. Release will usually be allowed only to house arrest very geographically distant from the complainant's residence (different city), under tight supervision of two supervisors at every given moment, and often with electronic monitoring to ensure distancing.

Why Choose a Criminal Lawyer Through LawReviews?

When a person's freedom hangs in the balance, there's no room for trial and error, and no "second chance" for a first impression. A lawyer who usually handles real estate, contracts or traffic, as talented as they may be, won't know how to deal with the sophistication of investigating units, with the pressure of the detention hall or with the nuances of the Probation Service.

At LawReviews we understood the critical need for expertise. We created for you a team of criminal lawyers who specialize specifically in arrest and release proceedings.

Our platform allows you to:

Find "Days of Detention" Experts: Lawyers who live the field, available 24/7 (because arrests happen also on Shabbat, holidays and in the middle of the night) and know how to reach any police station and any detention facility in the country.

Check Proven Experience: Transparent profiles presenting successes in releasing detainees, specific specializations (youth, white collar, serious crime) and verified reviews.

Speed of Response: In detention, every hour matters. The system helps you find a lawyer who's available to arrive at the station immediately to prevent irreversible damage in investigation.

LawReviews – Restoring Your Control Over Life

When the patrol car door closes, or when the judge announces "decision," the feeling of loneliness and helplessness is terrible. But you don't have to be alone in this battle.

The LawReviews lawyer index brings together the best legal minds who know how to fight for your freedom. Lawyers who know the judges, know how to read secret reports between the lines, aren't intimidated by police and don't rest until you're home.

Don't wait until morning, and don't rely on luck or "justice coming to light by itself." In detention, justice needs professional help. Enter now, find the right lawyer for you, and take the first and most important step back to freedom.