Criminal activities of the elderly in Turkey during the years 2000-2005

The aging of the population is one of the most important demographic events of the 21st century. The aim of this study is to define the basic variables related with criminal behavior among the elderly for cases over 60 years. A retrospective assessment of the criminal data (255 cases) consists of the period between 2000 and 2005 of the Council of Forensic Medicine, Turkish Ministry of Justice. Of the cases whose average age is 68.2 ± 6.9, 25 of the 56 cases were diagnosed as ill. Out of 225 elderly who had committed a criminal act 56 of them had a medical antecedent which is a psychiatric diagnosis. Whether or not they had a medical antecedent the Board made 90 psychiatric diagnosis. This comprised of 25 out of the 56 who also had a medical antecedent and 65 out of the 199 who did not have a medical antecedent. Delusional disorder (43.3%) and schizophrenia (25.6%) are the most frequent diagnoses. Specializing and developing standards for determining the criminal responsibility of the elderly is required.