Criminal law is a set of rules that determine the conditions of human behavior called a crime and the sanction to be applied to it. The purpose of criminal law and the function it undertakes have found expression in Article 1 of the Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237. According to the said provision;
"The purpose of the penal code is; to protect the rights and freedoms of the person, public order and security, the rule of law, public health and the environment, social peace, and to prevent the commission of crimes. In order to achieve this goal, the law regulates the basic principles of criminal responsibility and the types of crimes, punishments and security measures."
Criminal law is divided into three main sections. These; substantive criminal law, criminal procedure law and criminal execution law.
Substantive criminal law examines which acts constitute a crime, from which elements the crime constitutes, the conditions of punishment, what the punishments consist of and the basic principles related to them. The basic legislation on substantive criminal law is the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237.
Substantive criminal law is divided into two main headings: general provisions of criminal law and special provisions of criminal law. In parallel with this theoretical distinction, Law No. 5237 consists of two books named "General Provisions" (m.1-75) and "Special Provisions" (m.76-343). In the "General Provisions" book of the law, the general principles of criminal law, the field of application of criminal law, the principles of international criminal law, within the scope of crime theory; the elements of the crime, the conditions of punishment, the attempt to commit criminal acts, the commission of the crime in the form of participation, the rules of jurisprudence, within the scope of the theory of sanctions; penalties and security measures, which are criminal law sanctions, principles regarding the determination and individualization of penalties, cases and penalties dropped, and finally complaints and prepayment. In the "Special Provisions" book of the law, criminal acts in general and the sanctions related to them are included. (For example, intentional killing, intentional wounding, sexual assault.)
Criminal procedure law is a branch of criminal law that, after learning the suspicion of a crime, investigates whether there is an act that constitutes a crime in reality, by whom and in what way, and conducts the reasoning regarding it, and shows according to which procedures the punishment and security measures imposed in return for the criminal acts will be applied in the concrete case.
Criminal procedure law consists of investigation and prosecution stages. There are three sides to the trial: the claim (public prosecutor's office), the defense authority (the suspect/accused and his defense attorney) and the trial authority. The victim of the crime or the victims of the crime follow the proceedings only as participants and the trial is essentially a public trial. Measures such as apprehension, custody, arrest, search, seizure and control of communication through telecommunication constitute the instruments for the conduct of this process. The basic legislation of the Criminal Procedure Law is the Criminal Procedure Code No. 5271, which entered into force in 2005.
Criminal execution law includes rules on how to execute a sanction if the accused is sentenced to a sanction as a result of criminal procedure. In this context, the type of execution institution in which prison sentences will be executed, when the execution will begin, when it will end, and conditional release issues are discussed. The basic legislation of the Criminal Execution Law is the Law dated 13.12.2004 and numbered 5275 on the Execution of Penal and Security Measures.
As Erikel & Partners Law Office, we provide legal contributions to our clients in every field and stage of criminal law.
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