Determination of Punishment by Attempting a Crime of Production and Trade of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances

According to the attempt regulation in Paragraph 2 of Article 35 of the Turkish Criminal Code, the penalty that may be imposed for the attempt must be within a range of certain years requiring an aggravated life imprisonment and imprisonment for life. While these sentences range for aggravated life imprisonment between 13 to 20 years is, it is for life imprisonment penalty between 9 to 15 years. If the judge imposes prison sentences for attempted offenses requiring life imprisonment, he must decide on a sentence within these time limits. Unlike life imprisonment, attempting a crime, which requires time penalties, the perpetrator get a reduction by ¼ to ¾. Depending on the level of damage or danger in the specific commit, the judge will reduce the prison sentence in the rates specified above and set the final penalty. Such a regulation is not only applicable, but also compatible with the ratio of the legislator for the regulation of the TPC. Since the prison sentences for crimes such as Production and Trade of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances have been increased by the legislature beyond the first system of the TPC, it is apparent that in practice the punishment for attempted crime doesn’t fit the crime. In fact, attempted crimes requiring term imprisonment can have penalties more severe than for attempting a crime requiring an aggravated sentence of life imprisonment or life imprisonment. The reason why the penalties that can be imposed in connection with attempt could be more severe than the life imprisonment and aggravated life imprisonment is because of the unsystematic changes later made by legislature. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether there is an upper limit to the punishment of the offender when the crime of Production and Trade of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, which requires a term imprisonment, remains at the attempt stage, and to assess whether the current situation overlaps with the principles prevailing in criminal law.

Defence Lawyer/Attorney Dr. Ercan YAŞAR