The series contains registers of criminal cases recorded during the period of five years in the 15th and 16th centuries. Criminal cases mainly relate to physical violence, murder, verbal violence, and property crimes. Each case consists of a lawsuit filed by a private person or by the state (ex officio). Witnesses are listed in the case and, if necessary, their written testimonies are also added. It is a characteristic of the Dubrovnik Criminal Court that it rarely rendered judgements, most likely because most disputes were settled in conciliation of the warring parties. The mark "fatta" entered on the margins of the documents indicates that a judgment was pronounced. Some judgements (legal decisions) were written at the end of the case, and, in most cases, judgements were registered in special books kept in the fonds Criminalia (HR-DADU-23).

The series Lamenta de criminali is a first-rank source for the research of everyday life of the Dubrovnik Jewish community in the broadest sense of the word. Also, the archival material provides an opportunity to analyse the relations of Dubrovnik Jews with both: their fellow citizens and the authorities of the Republic. The series does not contain a lot of documents, and there are approximately twenty references to Jewish people. The most notable Jews referenced in the series are Isaac Ergas, the representative of Gracia Mendes, who, according to the records, was very prone to conflict, and Isaac, the son of a surgeon Abraham. The data show that Isaac, the son of Abraham, sued Isaac Ergas in 1575 for repeatedly insulting him, having stated Didacus Pyrrhus as a witness (vol. 4, f. 32). According to the records, conflicts over the performance of religious rites, especially in the 16th century, were one of the characteristics of Dubrovnik's Jewish community. In this sense, there is a very interesting record dating to 1575, which describes in Latin a conflict over the manner of ritual slaughter of chickens: Graciadio hebreo di Ghetto fa querella contra et ad. Salamon hebreo di Ghetto dicendo, che hoggi havingndo in la mano un polastro, et volendo quello amazarlo, all'usanza di hebrei, dissi a esso Salamon che lo dovesse tenir cosci, et lui di subito mi dette molti pugni, poi mi prendi per la testa, con quella dette nel muro, rupendomele in la orechia sinistra, effusione di sangue, mostrando il capo tutto insanguinato ...; Testes: Hebrew venture; Iacob hebreo (vol. 4, f. 141).