The Memory Effects of Simulating Crime-related Amnesia: A Review of Experimental Studies

Crime-related amnesia refers to the amnesia for an offense that is sometimes reported by offenders of (violent) crimes. Although some of the amnesia claims may be genuine, others are likely to be simulated. Simulating amnesia can have advantages for the offender, but not all offenders will continue claiming amnesia during the police investigation. This raises the question whether and how simulating crime-related amnesia affects subsequent genuine memory recall of the crime. Experimental studies generally find a memory-undermining effect of simulating amnesia. The exact memory effects depend on the simulation strategy used. According to the Memory and Deception (MAD) framework, different forms of deception result in distinct memory errors. False denial is likely to lead to omission errors, whereas fabrication of an alternative story is more likely to lead to commission errors. The possible explanations for these memory effects, important considerations, and legal implications will be discussed. &nbsp

Is small beautiful? A multicriteria assessment of small-scale energy technology applications in local governments

In its 2003 White Paper the UK government set ambitious renewable energy targets. Local governments and households have an increasing role in the overall energy system as consumers, suppliers of smaller-scale applications and citizens discussing energy projects. In this paper, we consider if small-scale or large-scale approaches to renewable energy provision can achieve energy targets in the most socially, economically and environmentally (SEE) effective way. We take a local case study of renewable energy provision in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in Yorkshire, UK, and apply a multi-criteria decision analysis methodology to compare the small-scale schemes implemented in Kirklees with large-scale alternatives. The results indicate that small-scale schemes are the most SEE effective, despite large-scale schemes being more financially viable. The selection of the criteria on which the alternatives are assessed and the assigned weights for each criterion are of crucial importance. It is thus very important to include the relevant stakeholders to elicit this information