Two studies were conducted to assess the dissociative experience in a criminal act. The first study, which involve 20 persons convicted of violent crimes who reported experiencing dissociative phenomena, assessed the variety of dissociative experiences an offender had before, during, and following a criminal act. The second study, which was composed of 14 persons with a diagnosis of multiple personality disorder (MPD) who had committed a violent criminal act, assessed the MPD and its relationship to criminal behavior. The overall results from the two studies suggest offender dissociation, to one degree or another, is common in violent crimes. Dissociation is the process of blocking out unwanted stimuli from awareness. In the case of violent crimes, the underlying dynamics are apparently centered around an intense and sometimes chronic struggle within the individual. In most cases, the person has intense antiethical intentions, and dissociation reduces or eliminates the degree of divergence between the two which may culminate in the crime. The study's overall conclusion is that the psychology of violent criminal acts is incomplete without the understanding of the relationship between dissociation and violence. 18 references