Child murder punishment will be aggravated: Deputy PM

ANKARA

A legislative package on crimes against minors will include aggravation of sentences for child murder, Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ has said, elaborating on the issue of handing down chemical castration sentences to convicted criminals.

“We will aggravate the maximum limit of a life sentence in a serious manner. In this law, the punishment of raping and killing children will be 50 years of imprisonment, a punishment that does not exist in the current Turkish Criminal Law,” Akdağ told a group of journalists on April 6.

The legislative package concerning amendments in the law on crimes against minors was submitted to the cabinet’s signature on April 5 and will be submitted to a parliamentary vote, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül announced on April 6.

Responding to reporters’ questions about the details of the package, Akdağ said the package will include giving harsher sentences to such convicts.


In articles 81 and 103 of the current Criminal Law, the punishment of killing a child is aggravated life sentence, but the length of the life sentence is 30 years. The deputy prime minister said they were mulling to increase the length.

Elaborating on discussions on chemical castration, Akdağ said perpetrators serving their sentences “should be rehabilitated” after being released from prison.

“There might be some hormones to be given to repress sexual drive in some cases if the judges and experts deem necessary. Every year a related court will revise this process and will decide if this will continue or not,” he said.

“It will also be possible to rehabilitate those who had been punished for abusing children in prison,” he added.

Akdağ also stated that the package will include a measure that deems convicted individuals will not be allowed to work in places where children are present.

“They already cannot be state officials. We will also bring measures that will ensure that they also will not work in the private sector,” he said.

He added that the legislative package will assign prosecutors to children monitoring centers in order to ensure cooperation between authorities.

He stated that certain measures will be added to block media coverage of child abuse cases “if there are reports that will harm the child’s psychology or will disclose the family and the child, with the order of the ministry or prosecutors.”