Professor Adem Sözüer
Head, Department of Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law
Professor of Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law
İstanbul Bilgi University
Istanbul, Türkiye
Professor Adem Sözüer is a scholar of criminal law and criminal justice whose academic work spans criminal law, criminal procedure, criminology, human rights and comparative criminal justice. He currently serves as Head of the Department of Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law at İstanbul Bilgi University.
His academic career has been closely connected with criminal justice reform in Türkiye. Between 2003 and 2005, he served on parliamentary and Ministry of Justice commissions involved in the preparation of major criminal justice legislation, including the Turkish Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Law on the Execution of Penalties and Security Measures, and Law on Misdemeanors.
Biography
Professor Sözüer graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1983 and completed his postgraduate studies in public law at Istanbul University. He subsequently developed an academic career in criminal and criminal procedure law and became a full professor in 2008. From 2009 to 2017, he served as Dean of Istanbul University Faculty of Law.
His academic and professional work has focused extensively on criminal law, criminal procedure, criminology, human rights and comparative criminal justice. Alongside his contribution to criminal law reform, he has been involved in legislative and academic work concerning policing, violence against women, organized crime and other areas of criminal justice.
Professor Sözüer has conducted research at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law and was a recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship. His international academic activities have included long-standing cooperation with universities and scholars across Europe and Asia in the fields of criminal law, criminal justice and human rights.
He is also the founder and President of the International Crime and Punishment Film Festival, established in 2011 as an interdisciplinary platform bringing together law, cinema, psychology, sociology, political science and civil society around questions of justice and human rights.
His career brings together criminal law, criminal justice reform, criminology and interdisciplinary engagement with contemporary questions of justice, rights and society.