Legal reforms to address public perception of impunity in Türkiye

ANKARA

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç has announced that comprehensive reforms in Türkiye’s penal execution system will dismantle the public perception that certain crimes go unpunished.

"In light of the recent debates dominating the public agenda, we have prepared an extensive plan. We've been working on this for over a year, soliciting feedback from all practitioners, bar associations and law faculties. To date, we have received 45,000 responses," Tunç told reporters during an event in the capital Ankara on Oct. 14.

Türkiye has recently been embroiled in discussions regarding the release of individuals with extensive criminal records and the execution system and impunity that eventually resulted in a cycle of crimes. The debate intensified in September following the fatal shooting of police officer Şeyda Yılmaz by an individual with 26 prior crime records during an attempted escape.

Tunç reminded that under the current penal execution system, an offender sentenced to two years may avoid imprisonment altogether, owing to sentence reductions and probationary arrangements.

"Our criminal justice system encompasses investigation, prosecution and execution. It must has deterrent capacity," he emphasized.

“There is widespread public unease over the fact that offenders who receive sentences of less than two years often serve no time in prison,” he said.

“What we classify as ‘minor crimes,’ offenses that initially provoke public outrage, but result in relatively short sentences of two or three year, have, in practice, led to no imprisonment, which has generated significant disquiet. Moreover, this creates issues at the arrest stage,” Tunç explained.

He said that the new reforms will ensure that even those convicted of minor offenses will serve time in prison and that changes to good behavior reductions will be introduced.

Judges will no longer be able to reduce sentences for all types of crime based on good conduct, Tunç stated, adding that sentence reductions granted due to a defendant’s demeanor or attire during trial are also among the heavily criticized practices.

Tunç further noted that the ninth judicial reform package, which includes an array of provisions, will be debated by the General Assembly. Additionally, measures will be introduced to expedite judicial processes, he announced.

The collected feedback will be reviewed in the coming days with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well, the minister said.