Crimes And punishments according to The Katl Ve Sirkat Registers In The Ottoman Empire (1847-1861)

The aim of this study is to reveal the crimes that disturbed public order in the Ottoman society of the Sultan Abdülmecid period and the punishments given to these crimes based on the data recorded in the Katl and Sirkat Notebooks from the Meclis-i Vâlâ. The 16 notebooks kept between 3 Muharram 1264-21 Şaban 1277 / 11 December 1847-4 March 1861 constituted the limit of the study. The data obtained were analysed in the context of the penal codes of the Tanzimât Period (1840-1851-1858). Based on the analysed data, it has been determined that a total of 15 types of crime cause public order problems. The crimes are divided into six categories: crimes against bodily inviolability, crimes against property, crimes against sexual inviolability, crimes against public order, crimes against military order and crimes against public order. The reasons for the occurrence of crimes, criminal and victim profiles and crime scenes were tried to be revealed. The absence of specific information such as the occupation and title of the offenders in the judgements examined allowed the offences to be analysed only in terms of their religious affiliation and gender. It was determined that the number of male offenders was higher than the number of female offenders. It has been determined that crime scenes are concentrated in Anatolia. Şer'i punishments were applied in the case of manslaughter and wounding with dietary practices; other offences were resolved with ta'zir punishments. During the period under review, there is no evidence of retaliation for the crimes of homicide and wounding. Criminals were subjected to severe penal sanctions such as galleys, shackles, imprisonment, exile and penal servitude. It was revealed that male offenders were mostly sentenced to galleys and prangabent, while female offenders were sentenced to imprisonment.