(Berlin) – A new Turkish law that imposes heavy prison sentences on children found guilty of committing crimes is likely to cause harm and moves Turkish policy further away from international norms, Human Rights Watch said today. The law, which went into effect on August 18, 2026, allows courts to impose prison sentences up to 27 years for children age 12 and up, and life in prison for those 15 and older.
Imposing criminal penalties on children younger than 14 and sentencing children as though they were adults violates international child rights standards. The law also directs officials to hold children in closed prisons and not in educational facilities, as is the appropriate practice for child offenders. Türkiye should instead reform its child justice system to comply with the best international standards.
“Any serious crime committed by a child deserves a serious response, but locking up children for decades is neither just nor effective, and can be harmful and potentially counterproductive,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Child justice standards are grounded in science that establishes that children have the ability to grow and reform, so they should not be punished like adults.”
The Turkish government promoted harsher penalties for children after the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old boy, Mattia Ahmet Minguizzi, in January 2025. Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were each sentenced to 24 years for the killing, at that time the maximum sentence. But politicians contended that increased prison terms were needed to deter children from crime.
The new law amends the previous maximum sentences for children ages 15 to 17, which under the penal code were 24 years for the most serious offences such as “premeditated intentional killing,” 15 years for “intentional killing,” and 12 years for certain other crimes. The revised law allows courts to sentence children in this age group to life in prison, as if they were adults, depending on their intent, motive, the manner in which the offense was committed, and previous convictions.
For a child between the ages of 12 and 14, if a court determines that they are incapable of “understanding the legal meaning and consequences of the act and of controlling their behavior in relation to the act,” the child is not criminally responsible, and the court may impose “security measures specifically designed for children.” However, if the child is deemed criminally responsible, the revised law allows courts to sentence children in this age group to up to 27 years for intentional killing and other serious crimes, depending on their intent, motive, and the manner in which they committed the offense.
Under Türkiye’s penal code, life sentences “last for the convict’s entire life.” A child sentenced to life may apply for conditional release after 24 years at the earliest, while children sentenced to “aggravated life imprisonment” may only apply after 30 years.
The new law also changes the practice of children serving their sentences in juvenile education centers. Now children serving longer sentences—over 3 years if found guilty of criminal intent and 5 years if found guilty of criminal negligence—will be imprisoned in “closed juvenile correctional institutions” and may only be transferred to education centers if sanctioned by an assessment panel.
A challenge to the law before the Constitutional Court is expected, potentially brought by the opposition Yeni Party. Irrespective of any constitutional ruling, judges should always exercise discretion they have in sentencing, in a manner that respects and upholds applicable international legal standards on children accused of crime, Human Rights Watch said. Türkiye is a party to and bound by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which together with the jurisprudence and commentary of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, provides authoritative guidance on such standards.
Under international legal standards, states should set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 14, while Türkiye sets it at 12. International law also requires countries not to treat children as adults, but to ensure “the non-discriminatory full application of their child justice system to all persons below the age of 18 years at the time of the offense,” the committee says. Any deprivation of liberty should be for the shortest period of time necessary.
International experts on child justice have developed these standards based on consistent evidence that children’s developing brains lack an adult’s impulse-control, awareness of risk, and capacity to plan or understand the consequences of their actions; on how imprisonment harms children’s development; and how lengthy detention impairs their potential to reintegrate and contribute to society.
Treating children as adults is also incompatible with the rehabilitative and reintegrative purpose that international law assigns to child justice.
The consensus in neuroscience and child development is that children’s brains are rapidly changing and undergoing critical developments, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which “affects risk-taking, certain kinds of decision-making, and the ability to control impulses,” the Committee on the Rights of the Child has noted.
A focus on harsh imprisonment of children as the response to crime also distracts from other steps needed for public safety, Human Rights Watch said. Evidence shows that treating children as criminals does not increase community safety and that child-centered rehabilitation systems are more likely to prevent harm than harsher punishments. The children’s rights committee found that “the prevalence of crime committed by children tends to decrease” after systems are implemented that promote “the child’s sense of dignity and worth.”
A coalition of Swedish civil society groups recently identified 100 alternatives to jailing children, including stronger social services, better mental health care, school-based support, targeted help for children exploited by criminal networks, and meaningful assistance for families and communities.
The long-term harm of incarceration to children’s mental and physical development are well documented, and in the most serious examples, incarceration can be deadly for children, research has found.
“Punishing children as if they were adults ignores years of scientific findings as well as international law,” Van Esveld said. “With this law, the Turkish government has taken a step backward for public safety as well as children’s rights.”
