A new committee was set up at the Turkish Parliament on Wednesday for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, an issue in the spotlight due to well-publicized offenses committed by minors in the past year.
The investigative committee is tasked with tackling the root causes of how children are driven into a life of crime. Along with individual incidents, including the notorious case of the killing of 14-year-old Mattia Ahmet Minguzzi in an Istanbul marketplace last January by two minors, media reports point to a rise in the number of minors committing crimes for criminal gangs. Experts say gangs increasingly employ underage boys for hits on rivals or attacks on businesses they seek to extort money from.
In an address to lawmakers earlier this week, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya underlined that it was time to reconsider the efficiency of deterrence of sentences handed out to juvenile offenders. Yerlikaya said in the same speech that the rate of manslaughter crimes committed by “children driven to crime” (a term used to describe underage offenders) made up 11.4% of total manslaughter crimes in 2024. “We have to talk about how we can regulate sentencing of those at the age of 15 and above,” he told the Parliament on Tuesday.
The parliamentary committee will hear from representatives of relevant ministries, public agencies and nongovernmental organizations specialized in tackling juvenile delinquency. Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on Thursday that the committee will also discuss steps on how to improve life quality, especially the welfare of children, to prevent them from being driven into criminal activities. It will make proposals on strengthening bonds between families and educational facilities. In addition, it will conduct research for the improvement of existing child care models and will examine social policies regarding “children under protection” (children without parents or with a single parent).
Speaking at Parliament’s General Assembly, where the decision to set up the committee was made, Tuba Köksal, a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said on Wednesday that they were living in a changing, “digital world” where “communication channels promoting violence for children and normalizing it.” Elif Esen, a lawmaker from the New Path (YY) political party, told the assembly that digital content containing violence drove children to the crimes, and families and social services were unprepared for “this new, digital crime dynamics.”
“The solution is not increasing sentences or building new prisons. We need effective, protective measures, a well-synchronized digital data system between different ministries and a better inspection and monitoring of children. We need efficient rehabilitation that will save the children from a cycle of crime,” she said.
