Mens rea-eliminating mistake in criminal law

This dissertation deals with mens rea-eliminating mistake in criminal law. The study is composed of three chapters. The first chapter handles types of mistakes and criteria to distinguish between the types of mistakes in both German and Turkish criminal law. The second chapter handles legal definition of crime and mens rea (guilty mind), the two topics of general theory of crime that have the closest relationships with mens rea-eliminating mistake. The third chapter examines mistake in material elements of crime and mistake in aggravating circumstances as types of mens rea-eliminating mistakes. Mistake in material elements of a justification defence is generally regarded as a mens rea-eliminating mistake in German criminal law; yet its legal position is controversial in Turkish criminal law. For this reason, mistake in material elements of a justification defence is also stated in this study. Additionaly, the topics of impossible attempt, hypothetical crime, double-mistake (in one case) and under the title of other types of mistakes, mistakes in the elements out of the mens rea's scope are stated in the study.