What is probation (denetimli serbestlik)?

Probation (denetimli serbestlik) is a criminal justice institution that includes mechanisms aimed at applying certain obligations and measures to suspects, defendants or convicts, reintegrating them into society, empowering victims and society, and preventing crime.

From the 19th century onwards, alternatives to imprisonment in the execution of sentences began to be discussed and applied around the world. The probation measure is also treated as an alternative sentence-execution institution that emerged from these efforts. Probation in the modern sense took its place in our legal system in the period following the entry into force of Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237. Execution of a prison sentence by way of the probation measure was introduced into our enforcement system by Article 105/A, added in 2012 by Law No. 6291 to the Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures (“CGTİK”). The aim of executing a prison sentence through the probation measure is for the convict to spend the enforcement process in contact with their relatives, and to be reintegrated into society in a process carried out alongside preventive and supportive measures.

Besides the execution of prison sentences, the various measures to be carried out within probation are provided for in the Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237 (“TCK”), the Criminal Procedure Code No. 5271, the Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures No. 5275 (“CGTİK”) and other legislation. For example, if certain measures are ordered when a decision to defer the pronouncement of judgment is made for a defendant under Article 231 of the Criminal Procedure Code, these are carried out as a probation measure. The measures provided for in provisions such as Articles 51 and 191 of the TCK can be cited as similar special-measure cases.

The probation situation most often encountered within enforcement law is the execution of a prison sentence by applying the probation measure. This institution is regulated by Article 105/A of the CGTİK. Accordingly, a convict whose prison sentence is being executed can be released from the penal institution a certain period before the date of conditional release, to have the probation measure applied.