Offenders’ Memories of Violent Crimes

Claims of amnesia for violent and sexual crimes are common as guilty suspects allege memory loss to avoid punishment. The key issue then becomes whether the memory loss is genuine or feigned. Offenders’ Memories of Violent Crimes takes a new approach to the subject by focusing not on eyewitness or bystander testimonies, but on the testimonies of the offenders themselves – or, more specifically, on the way they remember and relate their violent crimes. Under the guidance of Sven Christianson, expert contributors explore offenders’ memories with particular emphasis on theory and empirical research across areas such as memorial patterns, instrumental and reactive offenders, crime-related amnesia, crime-related brain activation, detecting lies and deceit and interviewing techniques.