Abstract:

This study aims to analyze the deterrent effect of the Turkish Criminal Justice System on crime. Criminal justice systems basically require investigation of crimes and identification, punishment and imprisonment of criminals. The investigation of the crime and the identification of the criminals are carried out by the prosecutor's office and the police. The courts, on the other hand, decide on the punishment or acquittal and determine the prison sentence if necessary. In this study, these steps were turned into explanatory variables in accordance with the economic theory of crime. Therefore, this study investigates, the relationship between the amount of crime by type in Turkey and the rate of clarification of the crime (clearance rate of crime), the number of convictions given by the courts, and the rate of imprisonment by type is investigated. The panel used in the analysis includes 17 crime types (under the title of Offenses Against Persons regulated in the 2nd chapter of the Turkish Criminal Law) and the period between 2009 and 2020. The data were compiled from the publicly available data of the General Directorate of Criminal Records and Statistics. The findings showed that the step of clarifying the crime, called the investigation of the crime and the identification of the criminal, has a higher deterrence than the punishment given to any crime or the severity of the sentence given as a prison sentence. In other words, law enforcement and prosecutor's office were found to be more effective than other institutions in fighting or deterring crime.

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