Evaluation of sociodemographic, clinical and forensic medical characteristics of juvenile delinquents in Turkey

Abstract

It is accepted all over the world that children whose biological, psychological, cognitive, moral and social development processes are ongoing and whose value judgments are not sufficiently developed should not be punished or that punishment reductions should be applied. This study retrospectively analyzed the variables in a Turkish sample of 315 cases in which the criminal responsibility of children (83.5% boys and 16.5% girls) was determined using forensic psychiatric evaluation. The most common types of offense were theft (33.7%) and injury (31.1%). It was determined that the children involved in theft offenses were more often boys whose families were low income and broken, and that these children were more likely to commit offenses again. The characteristics of juvenile delinquents can be used in social studies to aid with preventing the involvement of children in criminal offenses, and supportive and protective measures should be taken to assist these vulnerable children.

Key words:

• juvenile delinquents
• crime
• criminal responsibility
• forensic psychiatry
• offense
• Turkey
• forensic assessment
• children

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Ayşe Vlok and Ayda Sehlikoğlu for their assistance in proofreading and improving the article and the Council of Forensic Medicine for allowing the use of the data.

Ethical standards

Declaration of conflicts of interest

Kerem Sehlikoğlu has declared no conflicts of interest.

Şeyma Sehlikoğlu has declared no conflicts of interest.

Mehmet Cengil Aslan has declared no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The data of the study were obtained retrospectively from human participants.