Abstract

Objective: For individuals to be responsible for any crime, they must have the ability to perceive the legal meaning and consequences of the act they have committed or to direct their behavior in relation to this act. The main aim of the study is to investigate the sociodemographic, criminal and clinical psychiatric characteristics of the cases whose criminal responsibility was evaluated.
Methods: In the study, 57 forensic cases were analyzed retrospectively. The cases were reviewed in terms of variables such as gender, psychiatric diagnosis, types of crime, and the outcome of a forensic psychiatric assessment.
Results: Of the cases, fifty-two (91.2%) were men, and five (8.8%) were women. The most common crime was physical assault (n=26, 45.6%). It was evaluated that 38 (66.7%) of the cases did not have criminal responsibility. While physical assault was more common in cases diagnosed with psychotic disorder and bipolar disorder, other crimes were more common in cases diagnosed with mental retardation.
Conclusion: It was found that the majority of individuals were unmarried, male, and had a low level of education. More attention should be paid to the forensic psychiatric and clinical characteristics of criminals with psychiatric diagnosis.

Key words: criminal responsibility, forensic psychiatry, forensic evaluation.