Recovering Memories of the Offense in ?Amnesic?? Sexual Offenders

Abstract

This paper describes a technique designed to assist sexual offenders to recover memories of their offense. We have consistently observed that some sexual offenders present as having no recall of their offense although they are able to remember other events of the day of the offense. This failure to recall offense details prevents the offenders from making an appropriate disclosure which, in turn, blocks attempts to identify their offense pathways and develop relapse prevention plans. The memory recovery technique we describe is based on experimental literature on memory and we outline its use with 22 clients, 20 of whom showed satisfactory recovery of their memories.

Feigning Amnesia Moderately Impairs Memory for a Mock Crime Video

“…For instance, even though it is hard to determine to which degree defendants may intentionally feign amnesia following a crime, Pyszora et al (2003) found that 29% of a 1-year cohort of individuals sentenced to life imprisonment claimed memory loss for their deeds (31.4% of those convicted of homicide). While it might be that the intense emotional arousal that some perpetrators experience during the crime might impair memory (e.g., Kopelman, 1995 ), there is also the distinct possibility that perpetrators feign memory loss ( Centor, 1982 ; Marshall et al, 2005 ). Although majority of jurisdictions are reluctant to equate amnesia with incompetency, claiming crime-related amnesia in court raises the question whether the defendant’s ability to understand the trial proceedings or his capacity to consult with his attorney are impaired (e.g., Cima et al, 2002 ; Tysse, 2005 ; Tysse and Hafemeister, 2006 ).…”

Claims of Amnesia for Criminal Offenses: Psychopathology, Substance Abuse, and Malingering

“…The validity of claims of alcohol-induced amnesia-i.e., alcohol blackout-or of offense amnesia due to other substances besides alcohol, has been a point of controversy in the literature on offense amnesia. Moskowitz and others (8,37) adopt the view that alcohol blackout does not account for offense amnesia because a person in a blackout state would be too intoxicated to engage in complex behavior; however, Goodwin (16) and White et al (16,21,38) argue otherwise. Examples of amnesia for complex behavior from studies of drugs besides alcohol include the Daderman et al (39,40) documented cases of complex violent acts under the influence of Rohypnol, with no evident later memory for the behavior.…”

Denial and Minimization Among Sexual Offenders

“…From the social cognition perspective, addressing denial and minimizations (when verbalized by offenders) using nonconfrontational techniques is indicated to identify individualized offense pathways and prepare appropriate relapse prevention plans (Beech & Fisher, 2002;Marshall, Serran, Marshall, & Fernandez, 2005). Of course, this emphasis on offense-specific therapeutic work would be considered only one aspect of a comprehensive treatment approach (Laws & Ward, 2006).…”