Defendants are clueless--the 30-day psychiatric observation.

Objective: To investigate the understanding and expectations of defendants referred to Valkenberg Hospital for 30-day observation.

Design: Defendants referred for 30 days of psychiatric assessment were surveyed by means of a semi-structured interview within 3 days of admission.

Participants: One hundred consecutive referrals from the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape were considered; 88 were eventually entered into the study.