This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Ceza İndirimi: Hangi Hâllerde Ceza Azalır?.
Mitigation is not one institution but the sum of several distinct grounds, and they are applied one after another in the order the law prescribes. Because each reduction is calculated on the result of the last, the order directly affects the sentence that emerges.
The phrase “he got a reduction for good conduct” appears often in news reports and is usually misunderstood. This article sets out the principal grounds that reduce a sentence, the conditions on which they apply, and why the order of application matters.
How Is the Basic Sentence Fixed?
The judge first fixes a basic sentence between the lower and upper limits set by the statute for the offence, having regard to the manner in which the offence was committed, the means used, the gravity of the harm caused and the intensity of the perpetrator's intent.
Reductions are then applied in sequence, not each to the basic sentence. Because every reduction is calculated on the result of the previous one, the order directly affects the outcome.
Discretionary Mitigation (“Good Conduct”)
What is popularly called a “good conduct reduction” is in statutory terms discretionary mitigation. The judge may reduce the sentence having regard to the perpetrator's past, their social relationships, their conduct after the offence and during the proceedings, and the likely effect of the sentence on their future.
Applying it is not compulsory; it lies within the judge's discretion, and reasons must be given where it is not applied. It should not be reduced to superficial matters such as a person's dress or demeanour at the hearing.
Unjust Provocation
The sentence of a person who commits an offence under the influence of anger or severe distress caused by a wrongful act is reduced. The extent of the reduction varies with the gravity of the provocation.
The conditions are: there must be a wrongful act; it must have produced anger or distress in the perpetrator; and the offence must have been committed under the influence of that state of mind, in reaction to it.
Where there was provocation on both sides, who committed the first wrongful act is decisive. An event long past is unlikely to count as provocation.
Minority and Mental Illness
Children who had not completed the age of twelve at the time of the offence bear no criminal responsibility; only security measures are applied to them.
For children who have completed twelve but not fifteen, there is no criminal responsibility if they lacked the capacity to appreciate the meaning and consequences of the act or to direct their conduct; where that capacity existed, the sentence is reduced substantially.
For children who have completed fifteen but not eighteen the sentence is likewise reduced. In cases of mental illness, the outcome depends on whether the capacity to appreciate or to direct conduct was wholly or substantially removed.
Active Remorse and Attempt
Active remorse is the making good of the loss after the offence, or assistance to the investigation. It does not apply to every offence but only to those for which the law provides — offences against property, narcotics offences, and in some offences leaving a criminal organisation.
Making the loss good before the prosecution begins produces a larger reduction than doing so afterwards. Where restitution is partial, the victim's consent is required.
Attempt — the offence not being completed — is also a ground of reduction, and the proportion is set according to the gravity of the harm and the danger that arose.
Reduction, or a Change in How the Sentence Is Served?
Two groups are frequently confused. Reductions decrease the length of the sentence. The following, by contrast, affect not the length but how the sentence is served:
- Deferral of the announcement of the judgment
- Suspension — making execution of a prison sentence conditional on a supervision period
- Conversion into a judicial fine
- Probation
The distinction matters in practice: a person may avoid prison without any reduction at all, and conversely may receive a reduction and still have the sentence executed.
What to Check in the Reasoned Judgment
Whether the reductions were applied correctly becomes clear when the reasoned judgment arrives. The points to check when preparing an appeal:
- The reasons for the basic sentence. If the court moved away from the lower limit, were reasons given?
- Whether the reductions sought were addressed. If unjust provocation was raised, were reasons given for accepting or rejecting it?
- The order of application. Were the reductions applied in the statutory order?
- The arithmetic. Were the proportions applied correctly?
These four headings are the most frequent grounds on which judgments are set aside, and they must be shown concretely rather than in general terms.
Because a detailed appeal cannot be written before the reasoned judgment is served, a notice of appeal is first filed simply to preserve the time limit.
Reductions are applied one after another in the statutory order, not each to the basic sentence. Which reduction was sought at which stage therefore matters in the defence, and whether the order was applied correctly can itself be a ground of appeal.