Prof. Oren Gazal-Ayal was, until recently, the Dean of the Faculty of Law and the director of the Center for the Study of Crime, Law and Society, and is currently the Vice President and Dean for Research and Development. He is an expert in criminal law and procedure, sentencing law, and law and economics at the University of Haifa. He chaired the committee that examined the enforcement of drug offenses in the IDF, as well as the committee that looked into the treatment of unauthorized absence from service. Additionally, he served in the Public Committee for the Examination of Punishment and Treatment of Convicted Offenders (the Dorner Committee), the Committee for Alternatives to Incarceration, the Academic Advisory Forum to the Inspector General of the Israeli Police, and the Academic Advisory Forum for the Israel Prison Authority. In addition, he has held other public advisory positions, such as advising the Knesset, the Attorney General, and the Military Advocate General. He initiated a reform for alternatives to criminal proceedings, which was subsequently legislated by the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) in 2012.
He serves as the vice-chair of the Public Committee for the Prevention of False Convictions (headed by the former Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger) and the Advisory Committee to the Minister of Justice for Criminal Procedure and Evidence Law.