The crime of drawing a dud cheque in Turkish Criminal Law

In our country, "dud cheques" are a widespread problem. Although Turkish Legislator has tried to bring solutions to this issue in order to protect the interests of the check holders and maintain the confidence of the society to checks, they have not achieved the desired success. The subject of this study is "dud cheque" as a criminal offense. This study consists of three chapters. The first chapter is covered by the concept of "check" as an element of a crime and, the historical development of the dud cheques in Turkish law. In the second chapter, elements of a crime, default and the special appearance of a crime is analyzed such as attempt, participation and conseil of the crime. In this part, the Check Law Number 5941, which is still in force, is taken into consideration and abolished provisions also is referred to in some parts. The third chapter is covered by special procedural provisions which are the investigation, prosecution and sanction processes of a crime. This chapter also analyzes a quite controversial issue which is the principle and interdiction of imprisonment for debt and evaluations on whether the crime of "drawing a dud cheque" violates this principle. In the conclusion part of the study, the overall evaluation is made from the information presented in these three chapters. Keywords: Dud cheque, dishonored cheque, uncovered cheque, the crime of drawing a dud cheque, Check Law, Law Number 5941, prohibition of imprisonment for debt.