IN ORDER TO GAIN INFORMATION ABOUT PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A PSYCHIATRIC POPULATION AND TO ASCERTAIN WHAT KINDS OF RELATIONSHIPS EXIST BETWEEN PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR, AN ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED ON THE CLINICAL RECORDS OF 320 MALE SUBJECTS RELEASED FROM A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL IN GENOA, ITALY, BETWEEN 1959 AND 1961. ALL THE SUBJECTS WERE BORN IN ITALY AFTER 1897, AND WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS: THOSE WHO HAD NEVER BEEN CONVICTED AND THOSE WHO HAD PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS. THE FOLLOWING VARIABLES WERE CONSIDERED: (1) AGE OF THE SUBJECTS AT TIME OF RELEASE, (2) MARITAL HISTORY, (3) PLACE OF BIRTH, (4) EMPLOYMENT STATUS AND OCCUPATION, (5) TYPES OF PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS, (6) NUMBER OF PREVIOUS MENTAL HOSPITALIZATIONS, (7) TYPES OF CONVICTIONS, (8) PRESENCE AND TYPE OF CRIMINAL CAREER, AND (9) RELATION BETWEEN TIME OF FIRST HOSPITALIZATION AND TIME OF FIRST SENTENCE. NONE OF THE SUBJECTS HAD BEEN PROSECUTED AT TIME OF ADMITTANCE TO THE GENOA HOSPITAL. MAJOR FINDINGS REVEALED THAT 28.1 PERCENT OF THE SAMPLE HAD PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS. LITTLE DIFFERENCE EXISTED BETWEEN THE 'NEVER CONVICTED' AND THE 'CONVICTED' PATIENTS WITH REGARD TO THE AGE VARIABLE, BUT THE TWO GROUPS DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY IN DIAGNOSIS. PERSONS SUFFERING FROM THE MOST SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESSES, SUCH AS SCHIZOPHRENIA AND MANIC DEPRESSION, WERE MORE LIKELY TO BE IN THE 'NEVER CONVICTED' GROUP, WHILE THE 'CONVICTED' GROUP CONSISTED MAINLY OF PERSONS SUFFERING FROM RELATIVELY LESS SEVERE MENTAL DISORDERS. OF THE TYPES OF CRIMES FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS OCCURRED, ONLY 6.1 PERCENT WERE FOR CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS AND ONLY 2 PERCENT WERE FOR SEXUAL CRIMES. THUS, VIOLENT CRIMES WERE VERY INFREQUENT. WHEREAS PROPERTY CRIMES (36.4 PERCENT) WERE MORE PREVALENT. THESE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS DEMONSTRATE THAT, OVERALL, FROM A SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE THE SUBJECTS STUDIED MUST BE CONSIDERED MARGINAL TO THE MAINSTREAM OF SOCIETY AND THAT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IN THESE PATIENTS IS MORE LIKELY TO BE AN EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS THAN AN EXPRESSION OF REAL PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES. TABULAR DATA AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE PROVIDED. (PRG)