Amid the public outcry in controversial cases where courts allow offenders to walk free without serving time, Türkiye’s Justice Ministry plans for regulations that will make minor offenses punishable with prison terms.
Minister Bekir Bozdağ has recently announced that they were working on the issue so that they can end the public perception that some crimes were going unpunished. Under current laws, offenders do not have to serve time if their crime carries a prison term below certain limits. In some cases, the limit is one and in some, it is two years.
The issue often draws the public ire, especially in well-publicized cases such as brawls in traffic often captured in camera and in other “maganda” ("hoodlum") cases where public opinion perceives that offenders are walking free without any punishment other than a conviction in their criminal record. “Maganda” is a slang word often used by media to describe people dismissing general rules and often expressing themselves through violent behavior, whether in a traffic dispute or in any other argument.
Türkiye’s legal system allows courts to release the offenders without serving prison terms if the offense is minor, all evidence is collected and the suspect is not a flight risk. In most cases, such as brawls and assaults where the victim or victims suffered minor injuries and do not press a complaint against the offender, defendants are released with “judiciary control,” a practice where they can be sentenced to house arrest for a short time or required to report to the nearest police station every day.
In the Turkish Penal Code, prison terms of up to two years can be postponed by courts. Courts can postpone the prison terms on the grounds that the offender has no criminal history. In some cases, prison terms are overturned and downgraded to fines.
Under current plans, postponement of prison terms or converting them to fines will be scrapped for a series of crimes, including breaking and entering, insulting living or deceased persons, abuse of trust, endangering road safety, fraud and minor theft. The offenders will serve a certain amount of the prison terms they were sentenced to, regardless of the two-year limit. If the offender is a civil servant, he or she will be subject to more sanctions, including dismissal from the public sector.
The government is also considering introducing community service for offenses carrying low prison terms. Offenders can be sentenced to community service work such as cleaning public buildings or working at nursing homes, instead of serving short prison terms.
