Secondly, I searched my thesis on internet, but the sources were very useless. I didn’t give up and continued until finding Crime & Society Research Association web address, because it helped very much to decide what I would write. Once I decided that I would write on the gaps, it was easy to find new web sites due to the search engine “google”.
The database “Ebscohost” was also good for me, because I found this topic as the mass media considers. Therefore, I decided to add the regard of the mass media to my project, because it had a very powerful influence on justice. For my project was on the justice system, I felt that I had to add “the effect of the mass media”. Also, this part was full of fun, because in internet and the database, there were many articles on funny events.
Thirdly, I went to bookstores to find a book on criminology. After trying for a day, I found a Turkish book on criminology in Bakırköy Kriminoloji by Timur Demirbaş. After I bought and read it, I started to write my project. It covered all the topics that I would write on. Therefore, in my opinion, it was the most useful book that I had.
In addition, I got in touch with Şebnem Hanım, and I asked whether I could take some books from “Koç University” library. She said that she had a friend there and I should write the names and the call numbers of the books on a piece of paper. I found the names and the call numbers of three books, “Crime and Public Policy: Putting Theory to Work by Hugh D. Barlow, Criminology by Piers Beirne and James Messerschmidt, and Criminal Law, Criminology, and Criminal Justice by William J. Chambliss and Thomas F. Courtless” on the web page of “Koc University”. However, it started to snow when the books would be delivered to Şebnem Hanım, and schools were closed for a week.
I was very sad that I could not get the books when I went to Samsun in February. However, in Bafra, when I talked to my father, he said that he could help me. He had some friends who were lawyers and public prosecutors. I prepared questions to interview with them. First, I interviewed with Ali Osman Gençtürk, a self-employed lawyer working for more than twenty years in this job, at his house. It took two hours to finish all the questions. Afterwards, I sent similar questions to Hakan Yüksel, the republic attorney general of Ilgaz, via e-mail. I appreciated it very much that he really cared about my project and sent the answers back. However, the questions that I sent to Mehmet Kaplan, who was vice-chief of the police in Ankara, weren’t answered. These interviews helped me to understand the criminal process in a practical way. Therefore, they were very functional.
Additionally, when I was writing the project in the holiday, I saw some clauses that I didn’t know. Therefore, I asked my father if he knew them. He said that he didn’t, but he called one of his friends. He said that he had books about this project, so my father went to his house and borrowed two books, “Kriminoloji” by Sulhi Dönmezer and “Ceza ve Yargılamada Temel Yasalar (Main Laws of Punishment and Adjudication)” by İsmail Malkoç and Mahmut Güler. “Kriminoloji” was a really good source, and in “Ceza ve Yargılamada Temel Yasalar”, I found the clauses that I didn’t know. Therefore, this coincidence helped me to find new sources.
Also, I went to Sinop to investigate the life conditions of prisoners, because there was a prison which was opened again for tourists. In that prison, I saw that they live in very bad conditions. There were places where an animal cannot live for a day. Our guide was a guardian with a very long and thick mustache who worked in that prison for more than thirty years. He told us some interesting stories that took place in that prison. I enjoyed it very much, and I though that it helped me to understand the reality of justice.
In the holiday, all the nights, I didn’t sleep until three o’clock to write the project. I wrote the project with the greatest of care. “Writer’s Inc.” helped me to write with the right format, and my laptop was with me everywhere. I used the time very carefully and almost finished it before the holiday ends.
Last of all, after I came back from Samsun, Şebnem Hanım gave me the books that I looked for. Those books helped me very much on changing and completing the project. Even though I received them late, it wasn’t a very big problem for me, because I had many other sources. Therefore, using also those books, I finished the project successfully.
In conclusion, from beginning to ending, for I enjoyed learning more on this subject, I did my best. I believe that I was successful, because I explained everything that I mentioned on the rationale and the thesis, and I spent many hours. The hardest part was to find a literary connection, but I found many due to detective novels. Consequently, I can hand in the project with complete peace and comfort.
Picca, Georges. Kriminoloji. Trans. Ebru Erbaş. İstanbul: İletişim Publication, 1995.
