The number of children pushed into crime increases year by year. In particular, a sharp rise has been observed since 2010. While the number of children pushed into crime was 83,000 in 2010, it rose to 203,000 in 2024. This corresponds to an increase of approximately 145%.
This long article was written with the intention of giving voice to the children who become invisible behind numbers and data, and of ensuring that words do not simply vanish after the meeting, but remain in writing. It was written at a time when harsher punishments for children are being discussed, in order to reopen the conversation on the child justice system from a rights-based perspective.
Who is the offender?
The Turkish Language Association (TDK) defines punishment as follows:
A sanction prescribed by law against a person’s life, freedom, property, or dignity, imposed on someone who has committed a crime.
The purpose of this sanction against the person who commits a crime is to punish the perpetrator, to make them pay a kind of atonement for the offense, and thus to restore social order. But should children, like adults, be individuals who must be punished?
We need to give a clear “no” to this question. Demir explains this with justification as follows:
“In child criminal proceedings, the aim is not to punish the child, but rather to provide support that will eliminate and reduce the risk of the child re-engaging with crime in a manner appropriate to the act, that will enable the child’s integration into society, and that will help the child become an active individual who feels like a part of society—essentially, to give a response to the child in this direction.”
However, what happens in practice today is unfortunately different. We see that child criminal justice is based on atonement, just as it is for adults.
The age of criminal responsibility is already very low
According to the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237, children under the age of 12 in Türkiye have no criminal responsibility. However, the same law states that a child who has turned 12 by even one day has criminal responsibility.
Article 31 of the Turkish Penal Code, titled “minority,” distinguishes between children aged 12–15 and those aged 15–18. For the 12–15 age group, aggravated life imprisonment corresponds to 12–15 years, and life imprisonment to 9–11 years; for the 15–18 age group, aggravated life imprisonment corresponds to 18–24 years, and life imprisonment to 12–15 years of imprisonment. Recently, however, it has frequently been argued that these penalties are insufficient and that children should be tried like adults.
Selmin Cansu Demir, who earned her doctoral degree with her dissertation titled “An Evaluation of Child Criminal Justice in the Context of Children’s Rights,” states that everyone under the age of 18 is considered a child and that, due to their developmental characteristics, children are different from adults. She emphasizes that children’s mental and emotional development is ongoing, that their freedom of will has not yet fully formed, and that their capacity to distinguish right from wrong and to direct their behavior accordingly is not at the same level as that of adults.
Demir also notes that the age of criminal responsibility in Türkiye is already low, and that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has criticized Türkiye on this issue, stating that the age of criminal responsibility should be at least 14.
“In current discussions on social media, harsher penalties are being talked about, but when we look at the dimension of international human rights standards, our age of criminal responsibility is already quite low. When we look at comparative law and compare ourselves with legal systems that we know function well, we see that 12 is a low age.”
“It wasn’t as if I were treated like a child”
Demir conveys how children are currently tried like adults within the system through the words of a child:
“You just say ‘a child pushed into crime,’ but either don’t attach this label to us or live up to it. Follow through on the label. Because I was not subjected to such treatment. I was treated just like an adult. I was tried like an adult, and I received a sentence like an adult.”
Does the child justice system in Türkiye produce crime?
Demir states that, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the main aim of the child justice system is to strengthen children’s sense of dignity and respect for human rights. Current practices, however, operate in the opposite direction, reducing children’s motivation to comply with the law and repeatedly drawing them back into judicial processes.
Emphasizing that incarcerating children at an early age or imposing harsh sentences does nothing but further entrench them in the criminal system, Demir states that the child justice system must be structured in a way that considers individualization and supports children:
“We know that if you confine a child at an early age or impose penalties beyond their age, what you do is simply draw that child further into this system—it serves no other purpose.”
“I have someone from every type of crime saved in my phone”
Demir recounts how one of the young people she interviewed likened prison to a crime empire:
“When I entered the correctional facility, I knew at most one or two crimes, I knew one or two criminals. But when I came out of prison, it was like I was leaving a crime empire. I have someone from every type of crime saved in my phone. Because I built that contact list in prison. I saved one person from every crime.”
Demir emphasizes that, whether or not children experience imprisonment, the judicial process damages their relationship with the state and the law:
“If, at the end of these experiences and processes, children realize that they were not treated fairly and respectfully, or if they think the process was not transparent, their motivation to comply with the law decreases, and as a result they find themselves repeatedly within the judicial system.”
“I lost my childhood here”
Demir explains that judicial processes create a sense of stigmatization and deep hopelessness in children; alongside feelings of shame and guilt, children develop a belief that their childhood has ended:
“In recent debates, we always emphasize this issue of childhood, and children within the judicial system say, ‘I lost my childhood here.’”
Children are tried in adult courts
Evaluating the Child Protection Law in the context of children’s rights, Demir says that the justice system in Türkiye is inadequate for children. She explains that there are shortcomings both in the Child Protection Law and in child-specific institutions.
“According to the limited data we have, the number of juvenile courts in Türkiye is unfortunately sufficient to try only about half of the children. On the one hand, many children are being tried, while on the other hand, juvenile courts have not even been established everywhere. For this reason, some adult courts have to conduct proceedings under the title of juvenile courts. However, this constitutes a constitutional rights violation. Because child-specific courts are regulated separately, and judges who conduct proceedings involving children need to be competent in this specialized field. Judges need to internalize the meaning and importance of Social Investigation Reports, know how to approach children, and be able to implement protective and supportive measures.”
In Türkiye, there are not enough specialists for child criminal justice, and actors within the judicial process—such as judges, prosecutors, and lawyers—are not sufficiently supported in working with children.
Alongside all this, Demir draws attention to a positive practice expected to be expanded: the Child Justice Centers opened by the Ministry of Justice in three provinces. These centers were established as independent units outside courthouses to prevent secondary victimization of children and aim to provide services to children in a holistic and cooperative manner. Making such practices accessible to all children is critical for strengthening child-friendly justice.
Children are not granted the right to a fair trial
“Child” and “crime” are two concepts we do not want to see side by side, but unfortunately this is the reality we face. We must prevent children from being pushed into crime and develop restorative justice mechanisms. However, during the process, violations occur that even undermine the right to a fair trial.
Demir reminds us that qualified legal assistance cannot be provided to children in Türkiye, and that there are cases related to this before the European Court of Human Rights, noting: “There are findings that our failure to provide effective legal assistance deprives children of their right to a fair trial.”
She also explains that there are procedural problems and that regulations from which children should be exempt are not followed. Emphasizing that children cannot be handcuffed and that this is a prohibited procedure and a mandatory rule, Demir says: “If you go to a floor in a courthouse where there is a juvenile prosecutor, you will see children with handcuffs on their wrists.”
“How thick could my wrist even be?”
Drawing on interviews with young people, Demir shares the words of youths who say that being transported in handcuffs, as if they were very serious criminals, is an unforgettable experience:
“I was 13 years old at the time. How thick could my wrist even be? The handcuffs were slipping off my hand, but they still put them on me.”
“We’re waiting for what will happen to us like sacrificial lambs”
Demir states that expedited procedures should be applied in cases involving children, saying: “Children grow up. We can’t wait. A reasonable trial period is not enough; we need expedited procedures.”
She explains that trial periods for children are very long, and that children describe themselves as “waiting like sacrificial lambs for what will happen to them.” She notes that the process is often not transparent and that information is insufficient, adding that these long waiting periods bring very strong and distressing emotions for children.
“I saw the harsh face of the state”
Demir also explains that courthouse buildings have a negative impact on children and that children’s privacy is violated in courthouses:
“We see that children’s privacy is violated in courthouses because everywhere is very crowded. Courthouses are places with heavy circulation. Whereas in child justice, the essential principle is the protection of children’s privacy. But along that route, the child is, so to speak, exhibited to everyone while being brought to the courtroom. These are serious rights violations.”
She also states that preventive, protective, and supportive measures are very limited, recalling the words of one of the children she interviewed:
“Sister, I have always seen the harsh face of the state; I have never seen its compassion.”
Are children just numbers?
According to the November statistics published on the website of the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses, there are 1,233 convicted children and 3,449 detained children between the ages of 12 and 18. Looking at these side-by-side figures merely as numbers may make things easier. But behind every number, there is a child, a life.
When we center law and human rights, it is clear that we must protect children without depriving them of their liberty. Within the justice system, deprivation of liberty appears in the form of detention and conviction. Let us again turn to the dictionary. According to the TDK, a convicted person is someone against whom a penal judgment has been rendered; a detainee is someone deprived of their liberty by law and confined to a place.
Looking at the numbers, a striking situation emerges. The number of detained children—children whose sentences have not yet been finalized—is nearly three times the number of convicted children. Let us repeat the sentence spoken by a child above:
“When I entered the correctional facility, I knew at most one or two crimes, one or two criminals. But when I came out of prison, it was like I was leaving a crime empire.”
And let us add one more question to this reminder: are the practices applied to convicted and detained children the same?
No, because the institutions where convicted and detained children stay differ. Demir explains this as follows:
“The places where a detained child—whose sentence has not yet been finalized and who is held as a precaution—is kept are Closed Prisons, and there are 9 Closed Juvenile Prisons in Türkiye. These institutions are entirely security-oriented; it is not possible for them to be child-friendly. Formal education opportunities are practically nonexistent, and there are serious restrictions on access to basic human rights. The places where convicted children stay are educational houses. These are places where children can meet their families once a week, go outside for formal education, or go to their workplaces if they are working. Children there can also talk to their families by phone at any time for a fee, and because there are family leave permits, they can stay overnight with their families. So these are institutions we can describe as relatively more child-friendly. There are only 4 of these in Türkiye, and only 1 of them is for girls.”
The issue is deeper for girls within the justice system
Demir states that the number of girls in prisons at any given time varies between 100 and 200, and that these children are held in sections allocated to children within Women’s Closed Prisons. She notes that because such institutions do not exist in all 81 provinces, problems arise. If there is no Women’s Closed Prison in a province, girls are housed in sections allocated to women within men’s closed prisons, which creates serious rights and security problems in practice.
Stating that “the issue is much deeper for girls,” Demir reminds us that children who arrive in prison have already reached that point as a result of a series of adversities. Therefore, she emphasizes that this point should be seen not as an end, but as an opportunity for intervention and support, and that it is imperative to take responsibility to ensure children’s access to rights they could not previously access
Confinement has become the default rule
Another question arises here: are all convicted children in these educational houses? Demir answers “no.” If a child is convicted in one case and detained in another, they cannot go to these institutions. She also explains that disciplinary processes are very strict and that children can be returned to closed institutions due to disciplinary offenses, stating that this situation has become normalized and that these children are deprived of access to basic rights.
Reminding us that the prison population in Türkiye is around 400,000—a very high number—Demir states that the rate of child imprisonment constitutes a significant portion of this figure:
“The rate of child imprisonment has doubled compared to the previous year relative to the adult imprisonment rate. That is, we have detained more children, given more sentences, and confined more of them; whereas standards say this should be applied only as a last resort.”
Prisons pose risks for children
Demir notes that research on closed institutions shows that they are dangerous and pose risks for children because they generate violence:
“Children who pass through prison for the first time generally pose a very minimal risk in terms of public safety. If you can avoid putting these children there and instead provide other forms of support, the outcome can be very different. No one should think that children most commonly commit crimes such as homicide or aggravated injury. These types of crimes emerge at the end of a process and a trajectory in cases where children are not intervened with.”
A republic of deprivation: no inter-institutional cooperation and no restorative justice mechanisms
Demir emphasizes that protective and supportive measures are critical for children pushed into crime. While discussing the concept of being “pushed into crime,” she reminds us that the responsible institution in this process is the Ministry of Family and Social Services. She states that coordination between the justice system and social services in Türkiye is very limited and that the systems cannot work in cooperation. This, she says, is one of the criticisms raised by the Committee on the Rights of the Child toward Türkiye.
Demir stresses that inter-institutional relations must be conducted in close cooperation and that determining responsibilities is important. At this point, she also emphasizes the necessity of developing restorative justice mechanisms. She explains that restorative justice mechanisms are critical in enabling children to repair the harm they have caused, develop empathy, and reinforce respect for the rights and boundaries of others, and that the active participation of children in these processes is essential. All of this, she says, is only possible if institutions work in cooperation.
Those working with children must be competent in this field
Demir emphasizes that experts involved in the child justice system must have competence in working with children, and that this competence is not limited to knowing information, but requires that knowledge be continuously updated.
Referring to the first principle of UNICEF’s Guidelines on Child-Friendly Legal Aid, Demir states that it is essential for anyone working with children to be competent and equipped with up-to-date knowledge.
While noting that there are prosecutors and judges within the child justice system who have dedicated their lives to this work and approach every case meticulously—an encouraging fact—Demir emphasizes that beyond individual efforts, ministries and relevant institutions must ensure the continuity of services, and that changing perceptions within the justice mechanism is also crucial.
Demir states that roles such as juvenile court judgeship, juvenile prosecution, or juvenile policing should be seen as some of the most complex areas of human rights, and reminds us that children are the most vulnerable group in terms of human rights violations. She emphasizes that these areas should be perceived as positions of dignity and weight.
The issue is neither crime nor the child
As a final word, we said at the beginning that this would be a long article. As we close, there is one more point we need to remember and note.
According to a post shared by the Türkiye Children Regaining Freedom Foundation on 20 November, World Children’s Rights Day, at least 1 out of every 10 incarcerated children was deprived of the right to education before entering the judicial system. The absence of this right is inseparable from income inequality. Türkiye is the third country with the highest individual education expenditures. The difference in education spending between the richest and poorest segments is 42-fold.
Another data point shows that Türkiye has the most socioeconomically disadvantaged 15-year-old group among OECD countries. The number of children living in poverty increased from 8 million 960 thousand in 2016 to 9 million 590 thousand in 2022. In other words, poverty is intertwined with childhood, and inequality is deepening.
While the number of children pushed into crime rose from 83,000 in 2010 to 203,000 in 2024—an increase of approximately 145%—we must speak loudly today about the causes that produce these numbers and transform the systems we are living in.
When talking about children pushed into crime, it is often said, “Are they children too?” Yes, they are children. Let us say it even louder: Yes, they are children too!
And what we need today is not to confront children with harsher punishments, but to rethink and rebuild the child justice system and to construct a social structure that protects children.
Because the issue is not that children turn to crime. The issue is that the conditions that bring children face to face with crime are growing larger every year…
* “This publication was prepared within the scope of the ‘Project for Enhancing the Monitoring, Reporting, and Advocacy Capacities of CSOs Working in the Field of Children’s Rights,’ supported under the Civil Society Organizations Cooperation Program of the ACAR Project, implemented by UNICEF with the co-financing support of the European Union. The responsibility for the content lies entirely with the Civil Society Development Center Association and cannot be interpreted as reflecting the views of the European Union or UNICEF.”