Turkey's DEM Party MPs condemn child crime law proposal and prison conditions

DEM Party parliamentarians in Turkey criticised a draft law that would increase penalties for children aged 12‑18 who commit crimes. Şırnak MP Newroz Uysal Aslan argued the bill ignored the socioeconomic factors that drive juvenile offending, violated constitutional protections for children and merely intensified punishments without addressing poverty, child labour or social services.

Mardin MP Beritan Güneş visited the Diyarbakır Children’s Prison and reported that incarcerated youths receive little rehabilitation, education, health care or psychosocial support. She said the prison conditions demonstrated that the current system isolates children rather than reintegrating them, and called for protective, not punitive, policies for juvenile offenders.