Evaluating the people who were sent for determining of criminal responsibility

Objective: According to the penal code in Turkey, a person who, during the commission of a crime, is under the influence of mental illness, who cannot detect legal meaning and consequences of the act committed or whose ability to redirect his/her behavior in relation to the act decreased significantly, will not be punished. The purpose of this study is to evaluate socio-economic data on people who were sent for criminal responsibility evaluation to the largest forensic psychiatry clinic of Turkey during one-year period, the expert opinion on criminal responsibility, the diagnostic distributions, the nature of their crimes. Methods: The medical files of 332 people were examined retrospectively. Results: It has been determined that 54.5% had a full criminal responsibility since it was detected that they had no mental illness or weakness which might affect their criminal responsibility and 39.5% were found to have no criminal responsibility for having a psychiatric disorder on the date of crime. Discussion: Considering the fact that those who were sent for psychiatric evaluation after committing a crime have psychiatric disorders as well as the distribution of psychiatric disorder diagnoses, the nature of the crimes committed and against whom these crimes were committed, results of the studies in our country and abroad were found to be compatible and consistent. [Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2015; 16(4.000): 270-275]