Terrorist Offenses and Juveniles – a Comparison between Germany and Turkey

Abstract

Terrorism criminal law and juvenile criminal law are branches of law that modify default criminal law provisions. In terms of their goals, these approaches mostly oppose each other. While the primary purpose of terrorism law is to meet the security needs of society, juvenile criminal law serves the privileged interests of juveniles and their reintegration to that society. With increasing active recruiting of juveniles by terrorist organizations, the question arises of what legal systems are doing in the face of juvenile terrorist offenses. This paper analyses and compares legal responses to terrorist crimes by juveniles in Germany and Turkey. The authors conclude that in Germany juvenile terrorist offenses are granted the benefits of juvenile criminal law to a higher degree than in Turkey. This has various legal and extra-legal reasons; however, in both legal systems reforms seem necessary to react more adequately to this troubling form of juvenile delinquency.