Sociodemographic and psychopathological profiles of criminal offenders following psychiatric assessment.

Aim of the study: Our aim was to identify the sociodemographic and psychopathological profiles of individuals undergoing criminal psychiatric assessment.

Materials and methods: This observational, descriptive, retrospective, monocentric study of criminal psychiatric assessments was performed in the Forensic Medicine Department of the Dijon Bourgogne University Hospital between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2023.

Results: We included 235 criminal assessments, including 201 pre-sentence assessments. The offenders were mainly male (92.5%) with a median age of 37. According to the assessments, 63.7% of offenders suffered from psychiatric disorders, mostly psychotic. Half of the offenders had a criminal record and fewer than a third were repeat offenders (31.7%). The main offences were violence (20%), sexual offences against minors (12.8%) and robbery (10.4%). The assessments found that around two-thirds of the defendants suffered from psychiatric disorders, mainly psychotic disorders (45.3%), personality disorders (23.4%) and depressive disorders (8.6%). The expert noted impaired discernment in 44.4% of cases, and abolition in 13.6%. Finally, the expert warned of dangerousness in 69.6% of respondents, three-quarters of whom suffered from psychiatric disorders.

Conclusion: Our study enabled us to describe the typical profile offenders which could be used to implement prevention and targeted care.