In the provisions of the Turkish Penal Code, criminal acts are subject to the sanctions of imprisonment or judicial fine. A judicial fine is a decision by the court conducting the trial that the convict is ordered to pay some amount of money to the state treasury.
Turkish Penal Code 52. the judicial fine regulated in the article shall be determined as a day not less than 5 days and not more than 730 days in cases where there is no contrary regulation in the law. Subsequently, the number of days determined, taking into account the economic and other personal Decencies of the person, the final amount of punishment is determined by multiplying by an amount between 20 TL and 100 TL.
Taking into account their economic and personal circumstances, the judge may grant a person a period of not more than 1 year from the date of finalization of the sentence to pay the judicial fine, or he may also decide to pay this fine in certain installments. In this case, the installment period cannot exceed 2 years, and the amount of the installment cannot be less than 4.
The verdict containing the judicial fine is given to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Public Prosecutor shall notify the convicted person of the payment order for the judicial fine to be paid within 30 paid days. If the convict cannot pay the judicial fine within a certain period of time upon the pay order notified, it is decided that the convict will be employed in a job useful to the public for one day in exchange for two hours of work with his acceptance. In case the convict does not consent to be employed in public useful work, the amount of paid days corresponding to the unpaid part is converted into a prison sentence by the decision of the Public Prosecutor.
The daily working time is determined by the probation directorate to be at least two hours and a maximum of eight hours. If the convict does not comply with the program prepared for him and the warnings and recommendations of the probation officers in this context, the days he works are deducted from the prison sentence and the entire remaining part is fulfilled in an open penitentiary institution.In the criminal record, the punishment in question also appears as a prison sentence.
The perpetrator is given a prison sentence equal to the number of days taken into account when calculating the judicial fine. If judicial fines imposed according to special criminal laws other than the Turkish Criminal Code are not paid, the penalty is assessed as 100 TL, 1 day in prison, while the penalty is converted into a prison sentence.
The term of imprisonment imposed in lieu of a judicial fine with a single sentence cannot exceed 3 years. However, in case of conviction on judicial fines with more than one provision, this period may not exceed 5 years.
If the convict pays the money corresponding to the days other than the days he is in prison or works in a public useful job, he will be released from prison or the employment in a public useful job will end.
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