Comprehensive changes stand out on the agenda of the 12th Judicial Package

Work continues on the 12th Judicial Package, which was prepared by the Ministry of Justice and submitted to the AK Party parliamentary group for evaluation. In the final version of the package, it is planned to amend a total of 19 different laws and introduce comprehensive legal regulations across 59 articles. The details of the proposal will be finalized following the upcoming discussions within the group.

The package, which brings forward proposals for changes in a wide variety of areas, especially crimes against children, is being closely followed by the public.

NEW SENTENCING REGULATION FOR JUVENILE CRIMES

The draft envisages an increase in current sentences for children driven to crime. The law, which currently allows children aged 12-15 to receive up to 15 years in prison instead of aggravated life imprisonment, will increase this limit to 18 years with the new regulation. Similarly, for the 15-18 age group, the maximum sentence will be increased from 24 years to 27 years.

Following recent incidents such as the school attack in Kahramanmaraş, new measures are being introduced regarding the improper storage of firearms belonging to others. Accordingly, individuals who store their weapons in violation of their duty of care will face 1 to 3 years in prison if the weapon falls into the hands of another person and this negligence does not result in a more serious crime. If the person who obtains the weapon is a child, this sentence will be doubled.

OTHER REGULATIONS ON THE AGENDA

Another important topic concerns social media accounts. It will be mandatory for foreign-based social media platforms with more than 1 million daily users from Turkey to implement identity verification for their Turkish users. Furthermore, the basic information of these users will be shared with the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK).

In addition, a new article is proposed to prevent the use of personal bank accounts in fraud. Accordingly, allocating one's own bank account, or an account opened in the name of another, for the use of others to obtain unfair gain will now be regulated as an independent crime. If committed in conjunction with fraud, the perpetrator will also be held responsible for the crime of fraud.

Regarding alimony, a limit is being placed on the long-debated practice of indefinite alimony. In the new draft, the alimony duration is set to be at least five years, or half the duration of the marriage from the date of marriage until the divorce case is filed. However, in cases where the alimony recipient becomes unable to work due to an unjust act by the obligor, or cannot earn a regular income due to age, courts are granted the discretion to award a longer alimony period.

1. Before the Judicial Package draft is brought to the parliamentary agenda, it is expected to be discussed in detail by the AK Party group in the coming days. The topics addressed include changes that concern many segments of society, such as social media, criminal justice, security in financial transactions, and family law.