The Crime of Sexual Abuse of Children
Advocate Gürol Herkesecan
The crime of sexual abuse of children, which differs from other crime types in terms of its content, is not only a subject of law due to its consequences, but also a subject that concerns many branches of science, especially sociology. When the relevant regulation of the Turkish Criminal Code regarding the type of crime is analyzed, it is seen that the legal regulation is incomplete or incorrectly handled, so there is a clear legal gap in the relevant regulation. It has been determined that the legal gap in Article 103 of the Turkish Penal Code is in violation of the Constitution, the ECHR and the provisions of the International Convention to which Turkey is a party. For this reason, in the relevant study, the Turkish Criminal Code, the Constitution, International Conventions, the penal provisions of the member states of the European Union and the countries of the European continent, although they are not members of the union, have been taken into consideration and an evaluation has been tried to be made with examples in comparative law on how the legal gap in Article 103 of the Turkish Criminal Code can be eliminated.
The Crime of Sexual Abuse of Children
Master Thesis
The crime of sexual abuse of children is a type of crime that is emphasized in the international arena and in Turkey due to the fact that its victim is a child. The way the crime of sexual abuse of children is handled by the lawmaker in the Turkish Penal Code has always caused controversy. Likewise, these discussions still continue to be relevant even today. Due to the incomplete handling of Article 103 of the Turkish Penal Code, which is the subject of our study, thousands of children, whom we would like to see in their classrooms today, are trying to express themselves in the corridors of the court. In fact, while some of these children are being tried in pre-trial detention, some of them are already convicted minors. Our reason for addressing the subject is the fact that the perpetrator may also be a child in this type of crime in which the victim is a child, but due to the fact that such an important element has been forgotten, it is an effort to make a unique contribution to the erroneous course that does not coincide with the sense of justice. It must be stated that the lives of the promising children of our country are too precious to be left to a loophole in the law or a high court practice. For this reason, I think that the legal gap in the Turkish Penal Code, which causes the victimization of thousands of children, should be addressed urgently by the lawmaker in an environment of consensus and in the light of science, without paying attention to daily reflexes. In our study on the sexual abuse of children, domestic and foreign sources on the subject have been examined and all the suggestions that are and should be in the light of the high interests of our children, the only architects of our future, which should be protected, have been tried to be expressed in detail in our study.