Emotionality during and after the Commissions of an Offence: A Look at Offence-Related Shame and Intrusive Memories in Justice-Involved Adult Males

Abstract

The limited research concerning trauma secondary to committing crime in justice-involved persons has been restricted to male forensic psychiatric and violent offender populations. We aimed to extend this by examining justice-involved persons’ memories about their crimes, and exploring factors involved in intrusive memories across offence types. One hundred justice-involved adult males completed a questionnaire package examining offence-related shame, guilt, instrumentality-reactivity, and memory characteristics. Forty-three percent reported intrusive memories of a crime they committed. These were experienced across all crime types, especially those with reactive elements. Shame was found to be the most significant correlate of intrusive memories over and above all other factors. While further research is needed (e.g., with justice-involved women), results are in line with theoretical foundations of posttraumatic stress disorder and shed light on psychological consequences of offending. The findings have implications for clinicians and researchers alike, in that intrusive memories and shame may be precipitating factors for related risk factors and would relatedly be worth considering when evaluating patterns of violence and creating relapse prevention plans.