Detection of Feigned Crime-Related Amnesia: A Multi-Method Approach

Abstract

Claims of crime-related amnesia appear to be common. Using a mock crime approach, the diagnostic power of seven symptom validity instruments was investigated. Sixty participants were assigned to three conditions: responding honestly; feigning crime-related amnesia; feigning amnesia with a warning not to exaggerate. High sensitivity and specificity were obtained for the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology, the Amsterdam Short-Term Memory Test, and the Morel Emotional Numbing Test. Only three warned malingerers went undetected. The results demonstrate that validated instruments exist to support forensic decision making about crime-related amnesia. Yet, warning may undermine their effectiveness, even when using a multi-method approach.

Keywords:

• malingering
• crime-related amnesia
• symptom validity testing
• coaching
• symptom overgeneralization

Notes

¹ For reasons of test security, we do not specify the precise cutoffs. They can be obtained from the first author.

² Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Bernstein & Putnam, 1986; extended German version: Spitzer, Stieglitz, & Freyberger, 2005).

³ Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ; Marmar, Weiss, & Metzler, 1997; German version: Maercker, 1998).