According to the data from Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), the number of children who were brought to police stations increased 10 percent in 2016 in comparison with the previous year.
Out of 333, 435 children who were brought to police stations, 54,8 were between 15-17 years old, 23,2 were between 12-14 years old and 21,9 were under the age of 11. 65,4 percent of children were boys and 34,6 percent were girls.
A total of 47,5 percent of children were victims while 32,6 of them allegedly did something which is legally defined as a crime. 12,3 of the children were brought to police station to ask them for information, 3,5 of them were missing and 4,1 were brought for other reasons.
Among 108, 675 children who were brought to police stations due to committing a crime, 36,1 were accused of harming someone, 23,1 were involved in theft, 5,5 were using, selling or buying drugs, 3,5 were accused of sexual crimes, 3,4 were charged with damaging property and 3,3 were involved in threat crime.
While 69,4 percent of children were returned to their families, 19,5 were referred to court. 2,8 percent of children were sent to social institutions. (turkishminute.com)