Simplified proceeding in criminal procedure law

The simplified proceeding has taken its place in Articles 251 and 252 of the Criminal Procedure Code pursuant to the regulation of Law No. 7188 as an alternative to the classical criminal proceedings and has been applied since 01.01.2020 when it entered into force. For offences that require a judicial fine and/or imprisonment with an upper limit of two years or less, the application of the procedure may be decided at the discretion of the criminal court of first instance in charge when the other conditions specified in Article 251 of the Criminal Procedure Code are met. With the application of this procedure, a decision is made on the file with the written statement of the victim and the defendant without a hearing. While the penalty to be imposed is reduced by one fourth due to the application of the procedure, the judgement rendered by the court is not subject to ordinary legal remedies and is subject to objection in accordance with the provisions of Article 252. This procedure, which is regulated with the aim of speedy trial, has been the subject of much scrutiny due to its differences from the classical criminal proceedings, especially in terms of whether the basic principles of criminal procedure, which ensure a fair trial, can be applied, and even the regulations related to the procedure have been the subject of an annulment case with the claim of unconstitutionality. In the scope of our study, by including the decision of the Constitutional Court dated 22.06.2023 on the simplified proceeding whether the procedure causes violations of rights is discussed; its conditions and the way it is applied, its historical process and its place in comparative law and alternative procedures are examined.