The evaluation of the boundaries of the perception or the ability of managing behavior of the legal meaning and consequences of act with a scenario based study on the primary and secondary school students in Manisa

In Turkey; the lower age limit of criminal liability was defined eleven years old in the 53rd article of Turkish Penal Code numbered as 765 which was abolished in 2005. In Turkish Penal Code, which was put into effect in 2005, the lower age limit of criminal liability was raised to 12 years old with legal decision in the first part of 31st article that includes ?there was no criminal liability under 12 years old when it committed an offence and an inquiry can?t be pursue for under 12 years old, but security precautions peculiar to children can be applied for this children.The aims of this study are to determinate the differences in the limits of the perception or the ability of managing behavior of the legal meaning and consequences of act with a scenario based study in children and adolescents under 18 years old and below 10 years old in the primary and secondary schools in Manisa; to investigate the interaction between ?the perception or the ability of managing behavior of the legal meaning and consequences of act? and environmental factors.In this study designed above mentioned aims, the results of questionnaires obtained from 969 students on the primary and secondary schools in Manisa were evaluated. It has been found that from 1.8% to 36.9% of the students do not have the ability to identify `the right or the wrong`, or to perceive the legal meaning of act; from 2.9% to 67.1% of the students do not have the ability to perceive the legal consequences of act. It was foreseen that these percentages have increased when the dimension concerned with ability of managing behavior have been extended. Moreover, the differences in the students` responses to criteria on the perception of the legal meaning and consequences of act are not significant between 10 and 18 years old children. The socio-cultural and socio-economic factors do not seem to affect the perception of the legal meaning and consequences of act.As a conclusion of this study, it is recommended that the ability of perception and of managing behavior of the legal meaning and consequences of act for attributed crimes in every child under 18 years old should be evaluated in the special units including child psychiatrist, sociologist, forensic scientist, pedagogue, psychologist, social worker, together judge had pedagogical formation of special child courts.