![]() ![]() ![]() Several experimental studies have examined the memory-undermining effect of simulated amnesia for a crime (see Table 2). Hence, malingering memory loss is an appealing strategy for many offenders. Relatedly, feelings of guilt and shame are not uncommon among violent perpetrators (e.g., murderers, sex offenders), which may likely decrease the motivation to come forward with actual, intimate details of the traumatic offense (e.g., Gudjonsson, 2003, 2006). Third, some offenders may pretend memory loss in an attempt to avoid possible painful conversations about their crime during psychiatric treatments (e.g., Cima et al., 2002). Second, offenders might also hope that malingering memory loss might be beneficial to the outcome of their trial in an attempt to evade or minimize criminal responsibility (Tysse & Hafemeister, 2006). First, offenders may fake memory loss to obstruct police investigations, slowing down their course, thereby possibly affecting the trial proceedings (Tysse, 2005). Indeed, there are several reasons to believe that many offenders’ memory loss claims are malingered. However, scholars have argued that such a rate could be much higher (e.g., Cima et al., 2002). Hopwood and Snell ( 1933) suggested that approximately 20% of the offenders who declared memory loss were actually malingerers. With “malingered (or simulated) crime-related amnesia,” forensic mental health experts refer to the deliberate simulation of memory loss surrounding a criminal act. Thus, these reasons offer strong grounds for the position that offenders who claim amnesia for their deeds are just pretending to suffer from memory loss (e.g., Jelicic, 2018). ( 2004) did not find any support for the idea that war veterans’ trauma-related memories become less accessible over time. Also, emotional or traumatic events are usually better remembered than neutral ones (Kensinger & Ford, 2020 McGaugh, 2006 McNally, 2003, 2007). Research has shown that people are overall quite good at recalling their own actions (Engelkamp et al., 1994 Symons & Johnson, 1997), arguably implying that memory for committing a crime is highly likely to be retained. As a matter of fact, in the absence of organic-related dysfunctions (e.g., brain injury, alcohol and drug intoxication Goodwin, 1995 Parkin, 1999 Stout & Farooque, 2008 Van Oorsouw et al., 2004), many scholars doubt the authenticity of crime-related amnesia claims (Centor, 1982 Jelicic, 2018 Jelicic & Merckelbach, 2007). Crime-related amnesia can become a challenging matter to forensic psychiatrists and psychologists. ![]()
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