Psychiatric Assessment of Child Offenders in Mersin: a Preliminary Studya

Objective:

To determine psychiatric diagnoses and socio-demographic features of children and adolescents referred to a child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient unit due to their alleged offences.

Method:

Data from chart records of 72 children and adolescents referred to Mersin University, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry between 2013 January and December due to their alleged offences were retrospectively examined.

Results:

Within all cases, 22.2% (n=16) were reported to have had full ability to perceive the legal meaning and consequences of their alleged offence and to direct his/her behaviors related to the offence. According to DSM-IV criteria, 46 of the cases (63.8%) were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder at the time of their psychiatric assessment. Most common diagnosis was attention defi cit and hyperactivity disorder (54.2%, n=39).

Discussion:

The results of this study reveal that conditions such as conduct disorder, anxiety disorder and intellectual disability might affect the child’s ability to perceive legal meaning and consequences of his actions and to direct his/her behaviors related with these actions. Thus, forensic process should not focus solely on the question of whether the child’s ability to perceive the legal meaning and consequences of his/her actions and to direct his/her behaviors related to these actions has been developed or not. In addition to that, for the highest benefi t of the child, converting the process into a type of health precaution practice might be considered for prevention of repetitive delinquency as well as conducting an assessment if the child meets any criteria for a psychiatric disorder or not.