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Amnesia for violent crime among young offenders.

Evans, C; Mezey, G; Ehlers, A (2009) Amnesia for violent crime among young offenders. J Forens Psychiatry Psychol, 20 (1). 85 - 106. ISSN 1478-9949 https://doi.org/10.1080/14789940802234471
SGUL Authors: Mezey, Gillian Clare

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Abstract

Amnesia for the perpetration of violent offences is an important issue in medico-legal proceedings. Previous studies of amnesia have mainly relied on selected groups of unconvicted offenders, which raises the question of how reliable the findings are. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and phenomenological qualities of amnesia in violent offenders. In semi-structured interviews with 105 young offenders convicted of serious violence, 20 (19%) reported partial amnesia for their offence and only one (1%) reported complete amnesia. Amnesia was associated with high alcohol intake, emotional ties to the victim, and cognitive processing during the assault. Complete amnesia for violent crime appears to be less frequent than suggested by previous reports using unconvicted samples. The findings have implications for the clinical assessment of claimed amnesia for violent crime and are potentially of medico-legal significance.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: PMCID: PMC2720170
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Population Health Research Institute (INPH)
Journal or Publication Title: J Forens Psychiatry Psychol
ISSN: 1478-9949
Dates:
DateEvent
1 February 2009Published
PubMed ID: 19668341
Web of Science ID: 19668341
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URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/102101
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1080/14789940802234471

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