Regulations by Law No. 7550 on Amendments to the Law on Penalties and Security Measures and Certain Laws Published in the Official Gazette No. 32920 (Repeated) (10th Judiciary Package)

The said Law allows convicts to be released on probation even if their sentences are less than 2 years: According to Article 13 of Law No. 7550;
In order for the convict to benefit from the supervised release procedure, he must have spent at least one-tenth of the period he is required to spend in the penal institution until the date of conditional release, which shall not be less than five days. |
The law also allows those who are subject to the provisions of recurrence for the second time to benefit from conditional release. According to the amendment foreseen in Article 14 of Law No. 7550;
The amount to be added to the conditional release period due to recurrence cannot exceed the most severe penalty taken as the basis for recurrence. In case of recurrence for the second time, the provision of this paragraph shall not be applied. |
In case of recurrence provisions for the second time, the conditions of release shall be applied. However, for fixed-term prison sentences, the conditional release ratio shall be applied as three-fourths. |
In addition, the Law expands the scope of special execution procedures. The amendments made to Article 110 of the Penal Execution Law No. 5275 in line with Article 15 of Law No. 7550 are as follows;
Upon the request of the convict, the execution judge may decide that a total of three years in crimes committed intentionally, and a total of five years or less in crimes committed intentionally, except for the crime of murder by negligence, be served in penal institutions; • Weekends by entering at 19:00 every Friday and leaving at the same time on Sundays, • Nights by entering at 19:00 every day except weekends and leaving at 07:00 the next day. This execution method may also be applied by the penal institution on weekdays, provided that the duration is the same, depending on the convict’s work life and family situation and the order and functioning of the penal institutions. |
• A total of three years for women, children or people over the age of sixty-five, • A total of four years for people over the age of seventy, • A total of five years for people over the age of seventy-five, • A total of six years for people over the age of eighty, or a shorter term of imprisonment may be decided to be served at home by the execution judge. |
Except for those sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, those sentenced to imprisonment or those whose judicial fines were converted to imprisonment during the execution process, may be ordered by the execution judge to serve their sentences at home if they are determined to be unable to continue their lives alone in the conditions of the penal institution due to a serious illness or disability they are exposed to and are not considered to pose a serious and concrete danger to public safety. It is mandatory to monitor convicts whose total sentence exceeds ten years using electronic devices. In the event of a violation of these obligations, the decision to serve the sentence at home shall be revoked by the execution judge. |
The execution judge may decide that women who have been sentenced to a total of five years or less in prison after six months have passed since the date they gave birth, or whose judicial fines have been converted to prison during the execution process, serve their sentences at home. In order to make a request under this regulation, the woman must not have had one year or six months since the date she gave birth. If the child dies or is given to someone other than its mother after deciding to execute at home, the execution judge will revoke the decision to execute at home. |
On the other hand, the Law in question changes the lower and upper limits of some penalties stipulated in the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237. According to the amendment, the current lower and upper limits of the penalties are as follows;
In the case of attempted crime, the lower and upper limits of the sentence of a period of imprisonment to be given to the perpetrator instead of aggravated life imprisonment and life imprisonment are increased; In the case of attempted crime, the perpetrator is sentenced to imprisonment from fourteen to twenty-one years instead of aggravated life imprisonment, and from ten to eighteen years instead of life imprisonment, depending on the severity of the damage or danger caused. |
A person who intentionally causes pain to another person’s body or causes their health or perception to deteriorate shall be sentenced to imprisonment from one year and six months to three years. If the effect of the intentional injury on the person is so mild that it can be remedied with a simple medical intervention, upon the complaint of the victim, a sentence of imprisonment from six months to one year and six months or a judicial fine shall be imposed. |
The lower limit of the penalty for the crime of simple threat has been determined as two months; In the crime of threat, if the threat is made by mentioning that it will cause great damage to property or do another evil, upon the complaint of the victim, a prison sentence of two to six months or a judicial fine is imposed. In qualified cases of the crime of threat, the upper limit of the penalty has been increased from five to seven years; If the threat is committed with a weapon, by disguising oneself as unrecognizable, by an unsigned letter or by special signs, by more than one person together, by taking advantage of the intimidating power created by existing or assumed criminal organizations, the perpetrator is sentenced to imprisonment from two to seven years. |
Penalties for the crime of endangering traffic safety have been increased; A person who drives and manages land, sea, air or railway transportation vehicles in a way that may endanger the life, health or property of persons shall be sentenced to imprisonment from four months to two years. A person who drives a vehicle despite being unable to drive and manage a vehicle safely under the influence of alcohol or drugs or for any other reason shall be sentenced to imprisonment from six months to two years. |