26 Suspects with Criminal Records on Free Movement Controversial: “The Culture of Impunity Must Change”

The incident that took place in Ümraniye, İstanbul, sparked a public debate on the functioning of the execution system. The suspect, who was detained for motorcycle theft and escaped, attacked police officer Şeyda Yılmaz with an armed weapon and caused her martyrdom. The fact that the suspect is at large despite having 26 criminal records has caused the public to question the execution system. Altınbaş University Faculty of Law, Criminal Law Expert Prof. Dr. Hasan Sınar made important statements by pointing out that these distortions in the execution system reinforce the culture of impunity.

Following the capture of the murderers of police officer Şeyda Yılmaz, who was martyred in the tragic incident in Ümraniye, eyes turned to the penal execution system. The fact that a person with 26 different criminal records was able to walk freely on the streets caused a great outrage in the society.

“‘There is nothing as encouraging as the first crime left unpunished’”

Commenting on the issue, Altınbaş University Faculty of Law, Criminal Law Expert Prof. Dr. Hasan Sınar stated that the penal execution system in Türkiye has deep-rooted problems. Giving the Marquis de Sade's quote “There is nothing as encouraging as the first crime that goes unpunished” as an example, Prof. Dr. Hasan Sınar said, “Because once you have committed a crime, you have broken the rules, but once you have seen that nothing has happened, no one can hold you anymore” and continued his words as follows:

“Determining the sanctions for crimes in the penal code with a populist approach without any scientific basis, and the introduction of parole and probation practices when the prison capacity was insufficient as a result of these penalties, led to the chaos we are experiencing today.”

“We have to completely abandon the current understanding that eliminates deterrence”

Prof. Dr. Hasan Sınar continued his comments by saying, “The end of this chaos can only be possible with the implementation of a modern criminal justice system in accordance with reason and science.” Prof. Dr. Hasan Sınar said, “For this, first, the sanctions in the penal code must be realistically reconsidered and then the amount stipulated in the prison sentence must be strictly executed to ensure deterrence. We have to completely abandon today's understanding.”

“If a deliberate crime is committed 3 times, that person does not deserve to be in society”

Prof. Dr. Sınar, who gave an example of an execution system applied in the 1990s in the USA to the question “Can a different system be tried for people with consecutive criminal records?”, said: “In the USA, a system called the Three Strikes Law was tried. This system gives life imprisonment without parole to a person who commits a deliberate crime three times in a row. But it did not have the expected effect, interestingly, the crime rates did not decrease as expected. It created other problems in Türkiye, such as overcrowding in prisons. That's why they abandoned the practice. In fact, if a person has committed a deliberate crime 3 times, that person does not deserve to be in society. Because the 4th and 5th time someone will be hurt again. Just like this suspect has hurt someone 26 times.”

Underlining that thousands of people with a lot of criminal records are on the streets, Sınar said, “We do not know how many criminal records anyone has, so it is useful to think twice when arguing with someone even in traffic. There are many criminal types like this walking among us.”

The treatment of the suspect is against the law

Prof. Dr. Hasan Sınar also touched upon the treatment of the suspect in the incident and said, “It is against the law to put the suspect in a garbage bag and put him in the animal transport vehicle. We understand that the police are human beings and we understand the pain they are going through, but such a practice constitutes the crime of torture. No matter who it is, they should be treated and prosecuted in accordance with the law. According to universal law, inhuman treatment and torture is a practice that is rejected with no exceptions. Here, the police themselves are maltreating the person and fining him/her. This is against the law. If you pave the way for this once, tomorrow the rulers will find the right to put a bag over the head of anyone they don't like and carry them in an animal cart.”