Average of 180,000 juveniles drawn into crime annually in Türkiye

ANKARA

Türkiye is facing renewed scrutiny over juvenile crime as official data reveals that nearly 180,000 children are being drawn into the criminal justice system annually, marking a significant 17.5 percent increase in youth-related offenses over the past decade.

According to figures compiled from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) and the Justice Ministry, the number of children “pushed into crime,” as the legal term is defined in Turkish law, reached a decade-high 188,926 in 2024.

The figure declined slightly in 2025 to 186,256, but still marked a significant increase compared with 2015.

Official records show that juvenile crime numbers remained relatively stable between 2015 and 2019.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number dropped sharply to 119,769, a decline widely attributed to lockdowns and reduced mobility.

Since then, however, the trend has reversed.

Cemalettin Gürler, a prominent lawyer, describes the current trajectory as "horrifying.”

"Children are not 'pushed into crime' by a single motive,” Gürler explained. “We are seeing the combined impact of economic deprivation on one hand, and the glamorization of 'easy money' through media platforms on the other."

According to Gürler, the most critical paradox lies in the fact that legal provisions intended to protect children and reintegrate them into society have been weaponized by criminal organizations as "armor" to shield offenders, directly fueling a pervasive perception of impunity.

The issue returned to the national spotlight on Jan. 14, when a 16-year-old boy, Atlas Çağlayan, was fatally stabbed outside a cafe by a 14-year-old in Istanbul.

The killing drew immediate comparisons to the Mattia Ahmet Minguzzi case, in which a 14-year-old Turkish-Italian boy was stabbed to death by peers last year.

That case had already ignited a nationwide debate on youth violence and sentencing laws for minors.

Under Turkish law, individuals under 18 cannot receive life sentences. Even in the most serious crimes, age-based sentence reductions apply, with 24 years being the maximum possible prison term for minors.

This was the sentence handed down in the Minguzzi case.

Turkish lawmakers established a parliamentary inquiry commission to investigate the factors pushing children into criminal activity to tackle the crisis.