Crime Trends in Turkey Based on The Official Conviction Rates

• In Event: Issues in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice

Abstract

Since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey researches on crime have been mainly based on singular cases or the observations of a limited time. However a historical analysis regarding the subject is essential in order to observe the criminal behavior and establish crime policy. Crime is a dynamic phenomenon and closely associated with socio demographic factors such as population growth, urbanization, family structure, unemployment and economy .
The aim of this paper is to manifest crime trends in Turkey between the years 1935 and 2015 based on the official conviction statistics and determine the sociodemographic and economic factors that are throughly related with the crime in Turkey.
As a study method, time series analysis applied on data obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute and World Bank. The results of the analysis demonstrates that, crimes rates were remarkably high from 1930’s to 1960 both in total crimes and main crime types and showed a falling tendency till the middle of 2000’s. Time series analysis demonstrated that socio economic and demographic factors effected crime trends relatively in long term and it’s seen that major societal and legal changes have direct impacts on the fluctuation of crime rates.

Authors

• Can Calıcı, Istanbul University Institute of Forensic Sciences Social Sciences Department

• Hülya Deniz Karakoyun, İstanbul University

• Neylan Ziyalar, İstanbul University Institute of Forensic Sciences Social Sciences Department