Objectives: The aims of the study are to determine the rate and spectrum of mental disorders among offenders referral to psychiatric evaluation and find out the relation between mental disorder and the nature of the offence.
Methods: This is cross sectional study that enrolled 120 referrals to the Forensic Psychiatric Committee (FPC) in Al-Rashad Mental Hospital during the period from Feb. 2011 – Nov. 2012. The referrals were interviewed according to a semi-structured interview questionnaire (SSIQ) based on DSM-IV-TR and the diagnosis was compared with that given by the FPC and the cases was included in the study when it was agreed by both the SSIQ and the FPC.
Results: This study revealed that illiterate and those with low level of education rated the highest 82.5% were mentally ill. Interfamilial violent assaults were the commonest offences among males while murder, sex crimes and wandering were the commonest among females. Schizophrenia was commonest diagnosis among males and schizophrenia, mental retardation among females. Most of referrals had previous history of referral 83% with intrafamilial violence was the commonest offence and schizophrenia was the commonest offence and schizophrenia was the commonest diagnosis.
Conclusion: Most of the offenders who were referred for psychiatric evaluation were found to be mentally ill and the most frequent mental illness was schizophrenia. Most of referral cases were due to violent assaults committed by male schizophrenic and other psychotic.