84.2% were female, 55.8% of their mothers had only graduated from primary school, 35.8% of their fathers had only graduated from high school, 81.1% of their mothers were housewives, and 30.6% of their fathers were retired. It was determined that nearly all of the students (94.7%) had no family members interested in forensic medicine, 27.4% followed forensic science, forensic nursing publications/programs in the media, and it was determined that most of them who did so used the Internet (80.8%) for this. The majority of the students stated that they had no information about forensic nursing (77.9%) and almost all of them (98.9%) were untrained in forensic nursing. The students were asked about the definition of forensic nursing in the study; half of them (50.4%) stated that they did not know what the forensic nursing was, while 17.9% defined forensic nursing as “nurses working and investigating in forensic cases” (Table 1). The students who participated in the study were asked about the duties of forensic nurses; 42.1% stated that they did not know what the duties of the forensic nurses were and the others stated “recording evidence” among the duties of forensic nurses (40.0%). Students selected “Forensic Science” (74.7%) among the subjects that the forensic nurses should know, 82.1% stated that forensic nurses should work in “forensic medicine institutions.” It was determined that 93.7% of the students had not previously encountered forensic cases, and they mostly selected “sexual offenses” as forensic cases (81.1%) (Table 1). Of the students, 94.7% stated that both forensic nursing should be an area of specialization and that nurses should receive forensic nursing education, 42.1% stated that this education should be given as elective course at school, and 40% stated that they wanted to be forensic nurses when they graduated (Table 2). It was determined that the differences between the groups was not significant when the socio-demographic characteristics of the students were age, gender, parents’ educational level, parents’ jobs, presence of a person interested in forensic medicine in the family, independent follow-up on forensics in the media, and knowledge and views on forensic nursing (p > 0.05). Discussion Upon examining the educational status and jobs of the students’ parents, they were moderate in terms of the sociocultural level. In our study, very few students stated that they had someone interested in forensic medicine among their family. However, it was determined that this did not affect students’ knowledge level with regard to forensic nursing (p > 0.05). Similar to our study, in the study by Şentürk and Büyükaslan (2013) that sought to determine the knowledge and opinions of senior nursing students about forensic nursing, only 12% of them had a family member who was interested in forensic medicine. Most of the students had no one who was interested in forensics in their family, and it was thought that this situation might affect the level of knowledge and awareness about forensic cases. Nurses are responsible for evaluating patients in a comprehensive manner, identifying problems intervention to solve problems and recording when the patients come to the emergency services due to health problems. These duties of nurses are also applicable in forensics cases. In addition, it is expected in forensic cases that nurses will collect forensic evidence and keep and give them to competent authorities (Green 1993). In our study, nearly half of the students stated that they did not know what forensic nurses’ duties would be, and they chose the furthest “recording of evidences” among the duties of forensic nurses (Table 1). This finding suggests that the most important thing that students perceive as the duties of forensic nurses is limited to the recording of evidence. Very few of the students defined forensic nursing as “nurses who work and study in judicial cases” (Table 1). In a study conducted by Kalayci et al. (2014) in which the knowledge levels of nursing students with regard to forensic nursing was evaluated, nearly half of the students who participated understood the true definition of forensic medicine. They defined forensic nurses as people who collect, keep, and send evidence to relevant units. Health personnel are often confronted with forensic cases. Therefore, the lack of information about forensic cases prevents the recognition of such cases. Forensic nurses who encounter forensic cases should be able to diagnose them (Lynch 2011). The ratio of forensic cases encountered was very low for the students who participated in our study (Table 1). Similarly, in the study of Topçu and Kazan Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences (2018) 8:16 Page 3 of 7 Table 1 Students’ knowledge about forensic nursing (N = 95) Knowledge on forensic nursing Number Percent Knowledge on forensic nursing Present 21 22.1 None 74 77.9 Any training in forensic nursing Taking 1 1.1 Not taking 94 98.9 Definition of forensic nursing according to students S/He is the person who identifies, collects, stores, examines, records, provides the evidence delivery chain, and analyzes the evidence. 6 6.3 It is about crime, justice and criminal nursing. 5 5.3 They are nurses who work in judicial cases, conduct research and follow up. 17 17.9 Nurses working with the police in criminals and courts. 4 4.2 S/He is the person who