What is important in forensic psychiatric evaluation in people with Down syndrome? A sample from Türkiye

Purpose

Down syndrome is one of the common genetic causes of intellectual disability. Adult with Down syndrome may have many psychiatric comorbidities. Therefore, their mental health status should be considered in legal proceedings such as criminal responsibility and legal capacity where they are involved. This study aims to highlight that individuals with Down syndrome are often referred directly to forensic psychiatry without undergoing an interview, despite the fact that this is a group with varied mental statuses.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analysed the socio-demographic, clinical and forensic characteristics of eight adult individuals with Down syndrome for whom the Council of Forensic Medicine (CFM) requested an opinion on criminal liability and other legal situations between 2018 and 2022. The CFM is an authoritative institution to which cases from all areas of Türkiye are referred.

Findings

The mean age of the individuals with Down syndrome for whom a forensic psychiatric opinion was requested was 24.63 (±7.95) and the mean IQ level was 54.13 (±13.38). All cases were male, 6 / 8 were referred for assessment of criminal responsibility and 4 / 6 of those referred for assessment of criminal responsibility were referred for sexual offences. It was found that 5 / 8 of the cases had moderate intellectual disability and 3 / 8 of the cases had mild intellectual disability.

Research limitations/implications

Regarding the limitations of this study, the first one is the small sample size. Nevertheless, due to the low prevalence of people with Down syndrome in society, it is plausible that their stigmatization may not be reflected in the judicial system, even in cases involving violent behaviour. The second limitation is that the reports lack all psychiatric medical documents, including forensic psychiatric evaluations of individuals with Down syndrome. Additionally, additional diseases were recorded based on familial anamnesis. The third limitation is that this study is the first publication to investigate Down syndrome from a forensic psychiatric perspective. Thus, there is a lack of literature to make direct comparisons and references in the discussion section.

Social implications

This is the first study about forensic psychiatric aspects for people with Down syndrome. The aim of this study was to examine the forensic psychiatric approach in Down syndrome, one of the most common genetic causes of intellectual disability, the situations in which forensic psychiatric assessment is required and the issues that might be considered important in this regard. Although there are various publications in the literature on the psychiatric conditions of individuals with Down syndrome, to our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate individuals with Down syndrome in terms of forensic psychiatric evaluation. People with Down syndrome are known to have varying degrees of intellectual disability and different types of psychiatric comorbidity.

Originality/value

People with Down syndrome are a heterogeneous group in terms of intellectual disability. The criminal responsibility and legal capacity of individuals may vary according to the legal situation. When requesting forensic psychiatric evaluation of these patients with psychiatric co-morbidity, patients should not be prejudged in terms of their level of mental competence and each case should be assessed individually.