Crime and criminals in Taşköprü district during the second half of the 19th century

Numerous changes have been made in a lot of areas in Ottoman Empire upon the Rescript of Gülhane (Tanzimat Fermanı). Among these, amendments in legislation and jurisdiction have brought a new order to the Ottoman Empire's jurisdiction system. Along with being subjected to a new constitutional course by fresh legal reforms, it has been occurred that a rather traditional concept in such areas had also kept their presence in Ottoman Empire at that era. The changes and transitions that come with Rescript of Gülhane strived to be popularized all around the country, but in the meanwhile, the influences of the classical understanding of law and the old jurisdiction system continued to have impact in practice. In this dissertation, crimes and criminals that threatened the internal security in rural areas during the second half of the 19th century in Kastamonu's Taşköprü district, where the effects of the Rescript of Gülhane were felt, have been studied. About the crimes in Taşköprü, Documents in the T.R. Presidential Archives of Ottoman Empire have been examined and the necessary literature review has been conducted. Upon evaluating the crime types, profiles of criminals and victims, crime scenes according to the analyses inferred from such archive documents; it has been occurred that these crimes are general public order crimes taking place in daily life during the late 19th century Taşköprü.