A Specific Recognition Deficit in a Case of Homicide

Abstract

This paper describes the case of an elderly man who battered his wife to death, and presented with amnesia about the actual attack. Psychological testing revealed significant impairment in recognition of faces and names which was specifically related to the gender of the material presented. No organic basis was found for the deficit suggesting that repressive and/or dissociative mechanisms can have powerful effects upon recognition memory.

Amnesia and crime: How much do we really know?

“…The large majority of these cases-about 90%-were homicide or attempted homicide; the others were divided among indecency, arson, and “acquisitive crime.” Hopwood and Snell (1933) argued on the basis of their findings that “the majority of crimes which are followed by amnesia are those accompanied by strong emotional reactions” (p. 32). Although the frequency distribution observed by Hopwood and Snell might simply reflect the overall distribution of cases that were referred to them (they did not include a nonamnesic control group), their conclusion is consistent with the findings of O’Connell (1960), Taylor and Kopelman (1984), and Bradford and Smith (1979) and also with other case reports in which limited amnesia occurred after homicides that were apparently accompanied by extreme emotion (e.g., Diamond, 1969; Gudjonsson & Mackeith, 1983; Power, 1977; Sadoff, 1974).…”

Crime and amnesia: A review

“…This makes an account of amnesia as simulation to avoid punishment seem less plausible. Case CD (above) reported his offense, and Gudjonsson and Mackeith's (1983)…”

“…Secondly, many amnesic cases have been described in the literature who either have reported their own crime or have failed to take measures to avoid their own capture (Hopwood & Snell, 1933;Leitch, 1948;Gudjonsson & Mackeith, 1983). Moreover, Taylor and Kopelman (1984) described two acquitted cases whose memory disorder (an alcoholic amnesia and a psychotic paramnesia) may have delayed their acquittal.…”

Memory Disorders in the Law Courts

“…Moreover, their subjective account is rather like that of other people with psychogenic amnesia; they talk about the memories being there, locked away but they just cannot get access to them. Moreover, as in the Gudjonsson and MacKeith (1983) case, these offenders often give themselves up and report their own crime, or at least make no attempt to avoid capture. The victims and eyewitnesses of offences can also show impaired recall of the offence, but their motives are unquestioned.…”