Evaluation of forensic cases in the psychiatric clinic of a training hospital; five-year review

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The mental health of the person must be healthy for being responsible for the crime committed. In this study, socio-demographic and clinical characteristics as well as assessments about criminal responsibilities of the patients who were under forensic observation for crimes committed in the military environment was evaluated. Medical records of the 1,482 patients who were referred with the aim of forensic observation within a period of ive years were studied retrospectively. The average age of the patients was 26.6 ± 8.2 years and education levels were 8.6 ± 2.2 years. Fifty-seven percent had a history of substance abuse, drug addiction rate was 1.2%. 22.3% of the cases were evaluated within the 32nd article of Turkish Penal Code (TPC). Diagnoses of patients assessed under 32nd article of TPC was psychotic disorder (61.9%), mental retardation (13.3%) and bipolar disorder (13%), respectively. 19.23% of the cases had previous criminal histories. Level of education of patients with a previous criminal history was lower (7.73 ± 1.36 years). There was also signiicant difference between groups with and without previous criminal history in terms of diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder and substance abuse history (p 0.05). Although our cases were consistent with the literature in terms of substance abuse, they differ in terms of substance addiction. Our indings suggest a strong correlation between antisocial personality disorder and low levels of education with repetitive crime behavior. Further studies, especially detailed investigating patients who commits crimes in a recurrently manner is needed.

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Criminal responsibility , Crime , Forensic evaluation

Gulhane Medical Journal

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Gulhane Medical Journal