Few scientific studies have been devoted to the study of crime among the mentally ill elderly, however, all the studies agree on the importance of recognizing risk factors associated with passage to forensic action in elderly patients.

The objectives of our work are to clarify the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic characteristic of mental elderly patients who commit forensic acts.

Our work has focused on all patients older than 60 years hospitalized under the mode of office between 1995 and 2012 in the service of forensic Razi hospital according to article 29 of the law n° 92–83 of the third of August 1992 as amended by the law 2004-40 of 3 May 2004, following a non-legal place due to insanity within the meaning of the 38 article of the Tunisian Penal Code.

Our study included 25 patients, their ages ranged between 60 and 90 years. They mostly had a low socio-economic level (64%), a low educational level (48%) and a marital status of married (64%).

All patients had a neuropsychiatric disease: schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in 48% of cases, dementia and Delirium nonspecific in 32% of cases, mood disorder in 16% of cases and mental retardation in 4% of cases. The medico-legal act was murder or attempted murder in 40% of cases, sexual crimes in 16% of cases, aggression against property in 16%, violence against people in 8% of cases and different offenses in the remaining cases.