When a child faces a criminal investigation or prosecution, it is a difficult process for the family. Turkish law provides a separate justice system for children, distinct from the one for adults. This system changed significantly with the amendment that entered into force on 18 August 2026. The amendment replaced the term “child pushed into crime” (suça sürüklenen çocuk) in the Child Protection Law (ÇKK) with “child in judicial proceedings” (adli süreçteki çocuk).
Criminal responsibility by age: Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) art. 31
- Under 12: No criminal responsibility. The child cannot be prosecuted; only security measures specific to children are applied.
- Ages 12–15: If the child lacks the ability to understand the meaning and consequences of the act, there is no responsibility. If the child has that ability, the sentence is reduced by half; the prison sentence for each act cannot exceed nine years.
- Ages 15–18: The sentence is reduced by one third; the prison sentence for each act cannot exceed fifteen years.
New: the reduction may not apply to serious offences. Under TCK art. 31(4), added by the August 2026 amendment, for intentional killing and for injury aggravated by its consequences, taking into account matters such as the gravity of the fault, the aim and motive, the manner in which the offence was committed, and whether the child has previously received a prison sentence for an intentional offence:
- for children aged 15–18, the age reduction may not be applied at all;
- for children aged 12–15 who have criminal responsibility, the smaller reduction applicable to the 15–18 age group may be applied.
Investigation stage
- The investigation is conducted in person by the public prosecutor assigned to the children’s bureau (ÇKK art. 15).
- A social worker may be present when the child’s statement is taken.
- A defence lawyer is appointed for a suspect child without any request being required (Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK) art. 150). The family may also instruct a lawyer of its own choice.
- A child taken into police custody is held in the children’s unit of the police or in a place separate from adults.
Social inquiry is now mandatory. For a child under 15, obtaining a social inquiry report describing the child’s personal characteristics and social environment has become mandatory (ÇKK art. 35). An indictment drawn up without this report is returned to the prosecutor’s office by the court (CMK art. 174). For children aged 15 or over, if no inquiry is carried out, the reason must be stated in the indictment or the decision.
If a public prosecution is brought against a child, the matter is notified to the provincial or district directorates of Family and Social Services and of National Education so that administrative measures can be taken.
Pre-trial detention and judicial control
- A child under 15 cannot be placed in pre-trial detention (tutuklama) for offences carrying a prison sentence whose upper limit does not exceed five years (ÇKK art. 21).
- In other cases too, judicial control (adli kontrol) measures are applied first; pre-trial detention comes into question only if measures such as not leaving a certain area, not going to certain places or not contacting certain persons prove ineffective (ÇKK art. 20).
Postponement of the public prosecution and deferral of the announcement of the verdict
- Where the conditions are met, the filing of the public prosecution against a child may be postponed; for children the postponement period is three years. As a rule, this option applies to offences whose upper limit does not exceed three years; for children under 15 this limit is five years (ÇKK art. 19, CMK art. 171).
- A decision on the deferral of the announcement of the verdict (HAGB) may be given; the supervision period is five years for adults but three years for children (ÇKK art. 23).
- New: If an HAGB decision is given for a child, those of the diversion measures below that are considered suitable are applied as supervised release (probation) measures. If the damage caused by the offence is small, the requirement to compensate the damage may be waived for HAGB.
New diversion measures (ÇKK art. 5/A)
The following measures may be ordered as security measures specific to children for children without criminal responsibility, and as supervised release measures for children who receive an HAGB decision:
- Social and community services: 20 to 300 hours of duties at places such as sports clubs and youth centres;
- Protection from digital risks: monitoring of the child’s phone and computer use for 3 months to 2 years, and blocking access to risky platforms;
- Books and libraries: 20 to 300 hours of duties in a library, or reading specified works;
- Environmental cleaning: 20 to 300 hours of cleaning parks, gardens and beaches and afforestation activities;
- Addiction measure: treatment and rehabilitation programmes for tobacco, alcohol, gambling, drug or behavioural addiction.
Changes at the execution stage
- Children sentenced to a total of three years or less for intentional offences, or a total of five years or less for negligent offences, serve their sentences directly in juvenile education centres (çocuk eğitimevleri).
- In calculating conditional release, each day the child spends in the institution until turning 15 counts as two days. However, this favourable rule does not apply to intentional killing, offences against sexual integrity, drug trafficking and the offence of forming a criminal organisation.
Parents’ responsibility
A parent who fails to fulfil the duty of care and education arising from family law, or who seriously endangers the morals, safety and health of their child, could already be punished. Under the new rule, if the child commits intentional killing or injury aggravated by its consequences because of such neglect, the parent is investigated without any criminal complaint being required, and the penalty is increased by half up to double (TCK art. 233(4)).
For families
If your child has been summoned to give a statement or has been taken into custody, speaking with a defence lawyer before the statement, making sure the social inquiry report is prepared in full, and submitting documents on the child’s school, health and family situation to the file directly affect the decision that will be given.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. For your specific situation, please seek advice from a lawyer.