A total of 196,308 incidents involving minors classified as “pushed into crime” were recorded in Turkey in 2025 after they allegedly committed criminal offenses, while almost 268,000 others were registered as crime victims, according to official statistics released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Tuesday.

The statistics showed that security units handled 609,959 incidents involving juveniles during the year, down 0.4 percent from 2024. Of the minors involved, 267,794 were registered as victims, 196,308 were classified as “pushed into crime” and 92,301 were recorded as witnesses, while the remainder were involved in missing persons cases, misdemeanor allegations or other incidents.

Children categorized as “pushed into crime,” a statistical term used by TurkStat for juveniles alleged to have committed offenses under criminal law, accounted for 32.2 percent of all recorded cases, while victims made up 43.9 percent.

Among juveniles pushed into crime, 41.6 percent were accused of assault, making it the most common alleged offense. Theft accounted for 14.7 percent, followed by drug-related offenses involving the use, sale or purchase of narcotics at 9.7 percent and threats at 5.1 percent.

Of the 196,308 incidents involving juveniles classified as “pushed into crime,” 192,989 involved youngsters aged 12 to 17, equivalent to about 25.5 incidents per 1,000 children in that age group based on Turkey’s 2025 population. TurkStat noted that the statistics are incident-based, meaning the same juvenile may be counted more than once if involved in multiple cases.

Of the 267,794 children registered as victims, 224,579 were victims of criminal offenses, while the remainder were recorded as victims of follow-up incidents. Assault was the leading form of victimization, accounting for 59.2 percent of cases, followed by sexual offenses (10.3 percent), offenses involving family relations (8.5 percent) and threats (5 percent).

Although the number of juveniles involved in security unit cases declined slightly from the previous year, the figures remained well above 2021 levels. The number of incidents involving juveniles classified as pushed into crime rose from 132,104 in 2021 to 196,308 in 2025, while the number of juvenile victims increased from 217,803 to 267,794 over the same period.

The figures are based on cases in which juveniles were brought to security units regardless of whether criminal records were created or files were referred to prosecutors. According to TurkStat, each incident involving a juvenile is counted separately, meaning the same individual may appear more than once in the annual statistics.

The figures were released as Turkey continues to rank near the bottom in international comparisons of child well-being. In UNICEF’s 2025 Innocenti Report Card, Turkey ranked 35th out of 36 OECD and EU countries in overall child well-being, placing 35th in mental health and 37th among 43 countries in both physical health and skills.