Head of Department: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet BOZDAĞ
Criminal law, which is one of the main branches of Public Law, is the branch of law that examines the structure of human behaviour defined as a crime by law and prescribes specific sanctions. The two basic elements of criminal law are offence and sanction.
Criminal law in the narrow sense, also called substantive criminal law, deals with offences and their sanctions. Criminal law in the broad sense, on the other hand, covers the law of criminal procedure and the law of execution in addition to the substantive criminal law.
Within the scope of criminal law in the substantive sense, students are taught in two separate sections, namely General Criminal Law and Special Criminal Law. The subject of general criminal law is the definition of the concept of crime with its substantive and moral elements, the general principles that dominate the criminal law, the definition of the concept of punishment, the reasons that eliminate the crime, the reasons that reduce and eliminate the punishment, and the principles and theories that apply to all crimes.
The subject of special criminal law is the acts which are considered as offences according to the laws of the country, their scope and limits, their different aspects and the penalties prescribed for these offences.
In addition to the criminal law in the substantive sense, within the scope of Criminal Procedure law courses, it is aimed to teach how to conduct criminal proceedings, the rights and powers and obligations of the participants in the proceedings, the measures for protection and the investigation and prosecution phases with the ways of control against court decisions. In addition, within the scope of the law of execution, the principles regarding the fulfilment of finalised decisions on punishment and security measures are examined within this department.
The Department of Criminal Law offers a wide range of courses at undergraduate and graduate level:
At undergraduate level: General Provisions of Criminal Law I-II, Special Provisions of Criminal Law I-II, Judicial Organisation, Criminal Procedural Law I-II, Criminology, Military Criminal Law, Execution Law;
At postgraduate level: Turkish Criminal Code and Implementation Problems, Crimes against Liberty in Criminal Law, Proof and Evidence in Criminal Procedure Law.