Amnesia for criminal offences: a study of life sentence prisoners

Amnesia for criminal offences has long been recognized as a common phenomenon although there have been few large-scale studies examining factors associated with amnesia and even fewer which have examined follow-up information. This study was based on a retrospective investigation of case-notes of all those sentenced to life imprisonment in England and Wales in 1994. Data were available for 89% (N = 207). The aims were (1) to determine the rate of amnesia for serious offences in this sample, (2) to identify any features of the offender, the offence, or the victim associated with amnesia, and (3) to determine the frequency with which memory recovers over a 3-year period. There were 29% of the total sample that claimed amnesia for their offence. Such a claim was associated particularly with a history of alcohol abuse, previous blackouts, previous psychiatric disorder and crimes of passion. Amnesia had significant associations at trial, those claiming amnesia being more likely to undergo thorough psychiatric assessment pre-trial and to use different defences. At 3 years post conviction, only 33% of the amnesic sample were reported to have complete recovery of their memories, 26% had partial return of memories, and 41% had no return of memories.