The General Assembly of Türkiye's Grand National Assembly approved the first two articles of a bill containing regulations concerning children involved in crime.
Under the proposed amendment to the Law on Firearms, Knives and Other Tools, a person who stores a firearm in breach of their duty to exercise care and caution, thereby allowing a child to access the weapon, will face a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years unless the act constitutes a more serious offense.
Age-based changes to children's criminal responsibility
Under the proposed amendment to the Turkish Penal Code, children who were 12 but not yet 15 when they committed the act will have no criminal responsibility if they were unable to understand the legal meaning and consequences of their actions or if their ability to direct their behavior was insufficiently developed. Child-specific security measures will be applied to these children.
If children in the same age group are deemed capable of understanding the legal meaning and consequences of their actions and directing their behavior, they may be sentenced to 13 to 18 years in prison for offenses carrying aggravated life imprisonment and 10 to 12 years for offenses carrying life imprisonment. Other sentences will be reduced by half, and the prison sentence imposed for each act may not exceed 9 years.
For children who were 15 but not yet 18 when they committed the act, prison sentences of 19 to 27 years are proposed for offenses carrying aggravated life imprisonment and 15 to 18 years for offenses carrying life imprisonment. Other sentences will be reduced by one-third, and the prison sentence imposed for each act may not exceed 15 years.
Age-based reductions in aggravated injury cases
Under an amendment adopted by the General Assembly, changes were made to the provision on age-based sentence reductions for aggravated injury resulting from its consequences. Accordingly, age-based reductions may not be applied to children aged 15 to 18 in some aggravated injury offenses, taking into account factors such as the severity of intent in the specific case, the purpose and motive, the manner in which the offense was committed, or whether the person had previously received a prison sentence for an intentional offense.
The provision covers cases in which intentional killing or aggravated injury results in an incurable illness, a vegetative state, the loss of the function of one of the senses or organs, the loss of the ability to speak or have children, permanent facial alteration, miscarriage during pregnancy, or death.
The adopted amendments also give judges discretion over whether to apply the sentencing regime for the next age group to children aged 12 to 15.
Amendment on repeat offenses removed from text
The third article of the bill, which proposed reducing the age exception for applying repeat-offense provisions from 18 to 15 under the law's provision titled “Repeat offenses and specially dangerous offenders,” was removed from the text.
General Assembly session adjourned
During deliberations on the bill's fourth article, Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye Tekin Bingöl suspended the session. After the committee did not take its place following the break, the session was adjourned to reconvene at 14.00.
Yüksel explains the aim of the amendment
After deliberations on the bill's entire first section, Cüneyt Yüksel, chair of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye's Justice Commission and an AK Party Istanbul lawmaker, answered questions from members of parliament.
Yüksel said that under the current regulation, one day a convicted person spends in a correctional facility before turning 15 is counted as two days when calculating eligibility for conditional release. He said the new regulation did not increase the sentence imposed by the court but changed the method for calculating the conditional-release period for a limited number of serious offenses.
Yüksel said the aim was to ensure that education, supervision and rehabilitation activities for children's rehabilitation and reintegration into society could be carried out for a sufficient period. He said the regulation sought to prevent a perception of impunity from emerging in the juvenile justice system and to prevent children from becoming more vulnerable to the influence of criminal organizations.
Yüksel also said the bill covered different aspects of the juvenile justice system, including deterrence, protection, education, a restorative approach and guidance measures.
