Rolf Harris' lack of remorse and the psychology of uncomfortable emotions

A year into his sentence on 12 counts of indecent assault, it doesn’t look like Rolf Harris has developed much of a sense of remorse. After seeing Mr Harris’s latest foray into song writing, his victims’ lawyer has said he mustn’t be given parole, and she has a point. Theodore Dalrymple (also known as Anthony Daniels), then a prison doctor, described in 1994 the baffling ability of violent criminals to avoid that uncomfortable emotion.

A murderer came back from court having been sentenced to life imprisonment. A period of depression is, of course, to be expected after such a sentence, but this man was angry, not depressed. He was red with rage.

‘That wasn’t justice,’ he said. ‘It was a kangaroo court…They didn’t listen to me. They didn’t call no medical evidence.’

‘About what?’ I asked.

‘What she died of.’

‘And what did she die of?’

‘Haemorrhage.’

‘How did she get the haemorrhage, then?’ I asked.

‘They pulled the knife out.’