Arrested or Convicted Children/Juveniles in Prisons or Detention Centers and Turkish Children's Justice System Process

Arrested or convicted children/juveniles in prison or detention centre, referred as the drifted children/juveniles into the delinquency are all-important social issue that bring damage on self, families, victims of their... [ view full abstract ]

Arrested or convicted children/juveniles in prison or detention centre, referred as the drifted children/juveniles into the delinquency are all-important social issue that bring damage on self, families, victims of their offense, the region and the community they live in. Even though there are theories supporting adolescence, genetic/hereditary factors, physical defects may influence juvenile delinquency, environmental factors are considered most influential currently. 

Juvenile courts were established under the Child Protection Law in Turkey in 2005 and since then all individuals below the age of 18 years at the time of the offense have been prosecuted in courts specialized in juvenile justice. The number of children drifting into the delinquency or being prosecuted is ever increasing in Turkey. According to Turkish Statistical Institute, in addition to the increase in the number of children criminal proceedings there is also an increase in the number of children convicted and/or subjected to various sanctions.

Objectives: We aimed to determine the factors drifting the children into delinquency as well as reveal the effects of crime on the child with respect to subjective and social adaptation. At the same time it is desired to describe the psychosocial factors influencing the individual such as family, society, substance addiction, abuse, multiple offenses.

Method: For this purpose, "sociodemographic data form", "childhood abuse questionnaire", "standard anger scale" have been applied to 151 convicted/arrested children in prisons or detention centers in Gaziantep/Turkey.

Results and Conclusion: Besides, statistical data including the types of crime, family criminal background etc. and findings obtained using various tests have been compared with the literature, interpreted and the results have been discussed in the light of constitution of "juvenile justice system" with an interdisciplinary approach based on children's rights. Thus, providing a descriptive basis for risk analysis and crime prevention programs to be developed.