An examination of the sociodemographic characteristics of children dragged into crime in juvenile courts and the protective and supportive measure decisions made

Juvenile delinquency is a social problem that has been increasing since the past and maintains its importance today. The fact that children have different characteristics from adults makes them more sensitive. When national legislations and international conventions are examined, it is seen that the perspective of rehabilitating children and ensuring their integration into society rather than punishing them is dominant. It is important to identify the reasons why children are dragged into crime and to implement the protective and supportive cautionary decisions they may need. In order to understand the criminal acts of children dragged into crime, it is necessary to identify the reasons that lead to it. It is also reported in studies that factors such as children's inability to receive adequate support from their parents, communication problems within the family, socioeconomic problems they face, criminal social environment, educational disruptions, history of substance abuse, low social support system are risk factors for children to be dragged into crime. Social service interventions to be made by identifying these factors can contribute to the micro, mezzo and macro system. In this study, which aims to examine the sociodemographic characteristics of children dragged into crime and the protective and supportive cautionary decisions made in juvenile courts, documentary screening method was used. The sample of the study consisted of a total of five hundred (500) social investigation reports prepared for children who were dragged into different crimes as a result of social investigation requests received from Antalya 1st, 2nd, 3rd Juvenile Courts and Antalya Juvenile High Criminal Court between February 2020 and January 2024 to Antalya Directorate of Forensic Support and Victim Services.. As a data collection tool, the Child Driven to Crime Information Form was designed and the reviewed reports were processed on this form. In this form; sociodemographic information of children who were dragged into crime and their families, information on the crimes of children who were dragged into crime, protective and supportive cautionary decisions applied to children, evaluation of the risk of children being dragged into crime again and their future planning levels were discussed under four headings and evaluations were made in the discussion and conclusion section of the study in line with these headings. The data collection process of the research was completed between 01.06.2024-01.09.2024. The collected data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 program. In the study, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between the criminal histories of children who were dragged into crime according to their academic achievement, social support system, use of harmful habits, future motivation, marital status of parents, criminal history of family members; criminal histories and crime types of children dragged into crime according to their gender. In line with the findings obtained in the research; it is important to determine the factors that cause children who are dragged into crime to commit crime and to make effective interventions, to carry out protective and preventive cautionary decisions functionally, to prevent juvenile delinquency and to reduce recurring crime rates; It is important to implement protective and preventive policies for factors such as school, social environment, social structure on the basis of family. Keywords: Child, crime, child dragged into crime