The Legal Nature of Exceeding of Limit in Reasons Excluding Criminal Responsibility

Exceeding the border of reasons excluding the criminal responsibility is regulated in the article 27/1 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237. According to this article, "when the limit of reasons excluding criminal responsibility is exceeded without intent, if the act is penalized even when it was committed negligently, the penalty written in the code for negligent offense is reduced from one sixth to one third". According to the dominant view in the doctrine, the concepts of intent and negligence are related to the wrongful nature of the act. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the article 27/1 as limited to justificatory reasons. According to the other view the excess of the border affects the blameworthiness. The Court of Cassation, on the other hand, in some of its decisions, defines the excess of the border as a reason affecting the blameworthiness, and in some of its decisions, as a reason affecting the wrongfulness. If the first opinion is accepted, the scope of teh article 27/1 narrows down to include only justificatory defences; If the second opinion is accepted, the scope the article 27/1 expands to include excuses, such as coercion and necessity, which may be subject to the excess of border. This study will focus on the discussion in question.