Turkish Juvenile Protection Law PDF

Turkish Penal Code 278-279-280 Failure to Report an Offence (Article 278) 1. Any person who fails to report, to the relevant authority, an offence which is in progress shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of up to one year. 2. Any person who fails to notify the relevant...

Turkish Penal Code 278-279-280 Failure to Report an Offence (Article 278) 1. Any person who fails to report, to the relevant authority, an offence which is in progress shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of up to one year. 2. Any person who fails to notify the relevant authority of any offence, which has been committed but where it is still possible to limit its consequences, shall be sentenced according to the provisions of the aforementioned paragraph. Turkish Penal Code 278-279-280 Failure to Report an Offence (Article 278) 3. Where the victim is a child (not having yet attained his fifteenth year) a person physically or mentally handicapped or a pregnant woman who cannot defend herself as a result of her pregnancy, the penalty to be imposed according to aforementioned paragraphs shall be increased by one half. Turkish Penal Code 278-279-280 Failure by a Public Officer to Report an Offence (Article 279) 1. Any public officer who fails to report of an offence (which requires a public investigation and prosecution), or delays in reporting such offence, to the relevant authority, after becoming aware of such offence in the course of his duty, shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of six months to two years. 2. Where the offence is committed by a judicial law enforcement officer, the penalty to be imposed according to aforementioned paragraph shall be increased by one half. Turkish Penal Code 278-279-280 Failure by a member of the Medical Profession to Report an Offence (Article 280) 1. Any member of the medical profession who fails to report of an offence, or delays in reporting such offence, to the relevant authority after becoming aware, in the course of his duty, of any evidence demonstrating that a crime may have been committed shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term up to one year. 2. A member of the medical profession shall include physicians, dentists, pharmacists, midwifes, nurses and other persons who provide health services. Juvenile Protection Law- 5395 Çocuk Koruma Kanunu The purpose of this Law is to regulate the procedures and principles with regard to protecting juveniles who are in need of protection or who are pushed to crime, and ensuring their rights and wellbeing. This Law covers the provisions related to the principles and procedures of the measures that will be taken with regard to juveniles who are in need of protection and the safety measures to be applied with regard to juveniles pushed to crime, along with the establishment, duties and capacities of juvenile courts. Juvenile Protection Law- 5395 For the purposes of this Law, the terms used herein shall have the following meanings: a) Juvenile: Any individual that has not yet completed age eighteen, regardless of whether they have reached full legal age earlier. Within this scope: 1. Juvenile in need of protection: Any juvenile whose physical, mental, moral, social or emotional development and personal safety is in danger, who are neglected or abused, or who are victims of crime, 2. Juvenile pushed to crime: Any juvenile about whom an investigation or prosecution is carried out on the allegation that he/she has committed an act which is defined as a crime in the Laws, or any juvenile about whom a security measure has been decided due to an act he/she has committed 3 Stages of Juvenile Protection Law Neglect/Abuse Cases a. Reporting ( Bildirim) b. Intervention ( Müdahale) c. Treatment/Rehabilitation ( Sağaltım) Reporting Reporting: When to report: Suspicion of abuse and neglect, reasonable cause to believe, and reasonable cause to suspect. To whom the report should be made: Designated agencies, Law enforcement: Reporting in Turkey: Aile ve Sosyal Hizmetler Bakanlığı İl Müdürlükleri, Sosyal Hizmet Merkezleri Cumhuriyet Başsavcılıkları Barolar, Çocuk Hakları Merkezleri Alo 183 Sosyal Destek Hattı 155 Polis, 156 Jandarma Kolluk ( emniyet görevlileri- polis ve jandarma): Emniyet Çocuk Şube Müdürlükleri Intervention in Turkey: Testimony, Interview, Physical (Medical ) Examination, Referral to Court System Forensic Interviewing :The term used to describe attempts to elicit information from witnesses for use in a legal setting. Intervention in Turkey: Sağlık Bakanlığı, Çocuk İzlem Merkezleri ve hastaneler Üniversite Tıp Fakülteleri, Çocuk Koruma Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezleri Adli Tıp Kurumu Çocuk Mahkemeleri Intervention in Turkey: Çocuk İzlem Merkezi ( Child Advocacy Center) Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) are established to evaluate suspected child sexual abuse cases in a child friendly environment with a multidiciplinary approach. The first CAC was established in Ankara, 2010. CACs contains many professionals including prosecutor and lawyer for forensic evaluations, medical doctors and nurses to provide health services, forensic interviewers to perform forensic interviews and social workers to determine social needs. Intervention in Turkey: Çocuk İzlem Merkezi ( Child Advocacy Center) One of the most important aims of CACs is to prevent reccurent testimonies of the abused children at forensic process. Before CACs were established at Turkey, it is speculated that children were obligated to declare what they lived up to 17 times to various professionals. These reccurent testimonies are potential to cause secondary emotional abuse at both the children and families. Intervention in Turkey: Çocuk İzlem Merkezi ( Child Advocacy Center) When a suspected child sexual abuse case is referred to CAC, firstly the forensic interviewer performs a preliminary interview to build trust with the child, evaluates the child’s developmental properties and acknowledges for the forensic interview. The forensic interview is a semi-structured, single session, recorded interview designed to elicit a child’s unique information when there are concerns of possible abuse. It is conducted in a supportive and non-leading manner by a professional trained and certificated by Forensic Interview Model. Interviews are remotely observed by representatives of the agencies involved in the investigation (such as law enforcement and child protective services). Intervention in Turkey: Çocuk İzlem Merkezi ( Child Advocacy Center) The other aim of CACs is to provide professional services for 7 days and 24 hours. Previously, the response to child sexual abuse was poorly coordinated between the various entities with a responsibility for conducting the initial investigation and response to child sexual abuse. The model has been enacted to serve 7/24 in Turkey and forensic interviewers stay on duty to provide a child-friendly, safe and supportive environment for sexually abused children. Intervention in Turkey: Çocuk İzlem Merkezi ( Child Advocacy Center) When a forensic examination is needed to investigate the abuse, forensic mediciners perform the physical examination including genital organs and hymen according to Turkish Law. The examination is also performed with full consent of the child and is also recorded in order to create evidence in forensic process. In addition, evaluation of pregnancy risk, urgent contraceptive drugs, evaluation of sexually transmitted diseases and providing prophylactic regimens, considering necessary vaccines are performed by a pediatrician and two nurses at CAC. Intervention in Turkey: Çocuk İzlem Merkezi ( Child Advocacy Center) Children are also evaluated by a child and adolescent psychiatrist and assess the risks of psychological disorders and help the victims to overcome the trauma. During the process at CAC, families and victims are also evaluated for social needs by social workers. They also organize home visits to detect the child in his/her environment and report their needs to related sevices. 67 cities, 70 CACs ( recent numbers) In Istanbul there are 4; Başakşehir, Bakırköy, Şişli, and Pendik. Treatment in Turkey: Psycho-social support for the abuse survivor child Aile ve Sosyal Hizmetler Bakanlığı İl Müdürlükleri/ Sosyal Hizmet Merkezleri İl Sağlık Müdürlükleri İl Milli Eğitim Müdürlükleri / Rehberlik Araştırma Merkezleri Treatment in Turkey: Protective and supportive measures are measures to be taken in terms of consulting, education, care, health and shelter, for the purpose of protecting the juvenile within his/her own family environment before all else. These measures are as follows: Consultancy measure (Danışmanlık Tedbiri), is a measure oriented to providing guidance on child rearing to those who are responsible for the care of the juvenile, and guidance to juveniles on solving problems related to their education and development; Treatment in Turkey: Education/training measure( Eğitim Tedbiri) , is a measure oriented to ensure that the juvenile attends an education institution as a day- student or boarding student, attends a vocational training course or arts & crafts course, or is deployed with a master of profession or at a workplace belonging to the public or private sector for the purpose of acquiring a job or a profession, Treatment in Turkey: Care measure (Bakım tedbiri ) , is a measure to make governmental or private care centre services or foster family services available for the juvenile or place the juvenile under the care of such institutions, in the event that the person responsible for the care of the juvenile fails to fulfil his/her care duties due to any reason, Health measure (Sağlık Tedbiri), is a measure to ensure necessary temporary or continuous medical care and rehabilitation for treatment and protection of the juvenile’s physical and physiological health, and treatment and therapy for juveniles who use addictive substances, Treatment in Turkey: Shelter measure (Barınma Tedbiri ) is a measure to provide a suitable shelter for those who have children but do not have a place to live, or to pregnant women whose lives are in danger. The process of Sexual Abuse Cases: Following the notification or notice, Emniyet Çocuk Şube takes the child victim. Emniyet Çocuk Şube operates the 4 telephone rule a. Savcılık, b. Baro, c. Aile ve Soysal Hizmetler Bakanlığı İl Müdürlüğü, d. If a family member is not a suspect in the incident, he/she notifies the family. The child is taken to ÇİM ( Çocuk İzlem Merkezi) by a civilian vehicle and civilian security officers. The child is listened to by the forensic interviewer in the mirrored room with video and audio recordings at Çim. On the other side, there is Savcı, (Baro temsilcisi) Avukat and a social worker. After the statement, a forensic physical examination is conducted with the child's permission. Privacy Policy According to the "principle of the best interest of the child", which is one of the fundamental principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the best interests of the child must be taken into account first in all actions concerning children. The best interests of the child; It requires respect for the child's rights such as dignity, freedom and equal treatment. In the Child Protection Law, the protection of the child's interests and well-being is accepted as a basic principle. Privacy Policy Best interests or best interests of the child is a child rights principle, which derives from Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says that "in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration". Assessing the best interests of a child means to evaluate and balance "all the elements necessary to make a decision in a specific situation for a specific individual child or group of children". Privacy Policy Precautions are taken to ensure that the child's identity is not determined by others during the proceedings, trials and execution of decisions regarding the child. In order to prevent the child from being stigmatized/tagged, all procedures regarding the child must be carried out confidentially. Information should not be shared with anyone other than the relevant/authorized persons, and should be collected confidentially and used, shared and stored carefully. Disclosure of Sexual Abuse Disclosure, in other words, revealing oneself, is the child telling the abuse he or she has been exposed to a person he or she trusts. Children's disclosure of sexual abuse is a phenomenon that depends on the child's developmental and individual characteristics, family dynamics, and cultural and social attitudes. Children may choose to describe sexual abuse directly or indirectly. Disclosure of Sexual Abuse Children who give spontaneous accounts of abuse are generally believed to be truthful and accurate. So, if a child comes up to you and tells you, without prompting, that he or she is being abused, you should make the assumption that the account is likely accurate and make the appropriate report to the related institutions. Because this untainted testimony is believed to be more accurate than what a child might say after repeated questioning, you should do your best to record exactly what the child said to you. Disclosure of Sexual Abuse Many children do not spontaneously tell others that they are being abused. It is common for abused children to delay disclosure. Some children are afraid, others are ashamed, and still others do not realize that what is happening is wrong or unusual. Research has shown that children tend to be accurate when responding to open-ended, unbiased questions. Open-ended questions are those that cannot be answered with a single word. Disclosure of Sexual Abuse Many children do not spontaneously tell others that they are being abused. It is common for abused children to delay disclosure. Some children are afraid, others are ashamed, and still others do not realize that what is happening is wrong or unusual. Research has shown that children tend to be accurate when responding to open-ended, unbiased questions. Open-ended questions are those that cannot be answered with a single word. Managing the Disclosure Process In order to establish a relationship of trust, the interviewer's empathetic approach, sincerity, and unconditional positive regard and respect for the interviewee are important. Care should be taken to ensure a quiet, neutral and safe environment, and to ensure that the distance between the seating arrangements is at least 50-70 cm. It is important that the interviewer maintains an impartial role. During the narration of the event, personal curiosity and questions aimed at filling the gaps should be avoided. It is essential to ask relevant questions. Managing the Disclosure Process It is essential to get the most necessary information by asking the right questions as soon as possible during the interview (to prevent secondary trauma). 4W1H: What happened, how did it happen, where did it happen, when did it happen, who did it Open-Ended questions: These are questions that support free expression and seek information. It is beneficial not to ask why or why question patterns that may contain judgment statements. Managing the Disclosure Process Closed-Ended Questions: These are questions that have a definitive one-word answer, such as yes or no. Since it narrows the field of knowledge, it is a type of question asked specifically to obtain specific information. It helps to complete and clarify vague, superficial, contradictory and inappropriate answers. Were you home alone that day? Did he touch your chest? Asking leading questions should be avoided. Managing the Disclosure Process Abuse is a phenomenon that is difficult to explain. During the conversation, the person may interrupt the narration. The interviewer must be patient, not be prejudiced, and respect the interviewee's right to participate or not participate. Without being persistent in the face of resistance; We may suggest switching to a different topic, using a different question type, taking a break, and holding the interview at another time. Psychological first aid for the child: If the child says that he/she has been neglected or abused: 1. Listen without commenting. 2. Don't blame, don't judge 3. Your reactions are vital. Try to stay calm. 4. Tell him/her that this situation is not his/her fault. 5. Do not touch the child without permission 6. Use supportive statements, “I believe you”, “I'm glad you told me that”, “it's not your fault”, “I'm sorry this happened to you” …