Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday called on Turkey to amend a new law that allows courts to give adult sentences to children, warning that the measure violates child rights standards and may harm public safety.
Law No. 7593, which took effect on August 18, raises prison terms for children between the ages of 12 and 17 and changes where they serve their sentences.
Courts may now withhold the age reduction normally granted to children ages 15 to 17 who are convicted of intentional homicide or forms of intentional injury that cause death or lasting harm.
Judges may base that choice on the child’s intent, motive, way of carrying out the crime or an earlier prison sentence for an intentional crime. This can expose children to the same life or aggravated life sentences given to adults.
When the age reduction is applied, children ages 15 to 17 may receive between 19 and 27 years for crimes that carry aggravated life imprisonment for adults. Crimes carrying an adult life sentence may bring terms of between 15 and 18 years.
For children ages 12 to 14, courts must first decide whether they understood the meaning and outcome of their acts and could control their conduct. Children found to lack that ability do not bear criminal responsibility and may instead face child protection measures.
A judge may apply the sentencing rules for the older age group to a child ages 12 to 14 who is found criminally responsible. That provision could lead to sentences of up to 27 years.
“Locking up children for decades is neither just nor effective,” Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at HRW, said.
The law also requires most children to begin their sentences in juvenile detention centers rather than education-based facilities. Children sentenced to three years or less for intentional crimes or five years or less for crimes caused by negligence may be sent directly to juvenile education facilities.
Other children may be transferred from detention centers only after an administrative panel finds that they have shown good conduct. The panel must review their cases at least once every three months.
HRW argued that detention harms children’s mental and physical growth and lowers their chances of returning to school, family life and society. It called for stronger social services, mental health care, school support and aid for children used by criminal groups.
Turkey sets the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 12. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends a minimum age of at least 14 and says the child justice system should cover everyone who was under 18 when an offense took place.
The committee also says detention must be a last resort and last for the shortest suitable period. It has called on countries to end all forms of life imprisonment for crimes committed by children, according to its guidance on child justice.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
