Moral Development and Criminal Responsibility

Question 1

What are the 3 components of morality ?

Answer 1

Cognitive component = moral reasoning
Affective component = moral self-evaluation
Behavioural component = resistance to deviation

Question 2

What are the theories of moral reasoning?

Answer 2

Piaget’s Theory
Kohlberg’s Theory
Social Domain theory

Question 3

Moral Reasoning: Piaget’s Theory

Answer 3

Intentions versus Consequences
- morality of constraint: up until age 7, children tend to have their moral compass centered on the basis of consequences (because intentions are abstract)
- morality of cooperation: after 7, judgement of morality is on the basis of intentions (motivations of behaviour)

Evaluating:
- there is a confound in the assessment he uses, because he compares a bad intention (small negative outcome) with a good intention (large negative outcome)

Question 4

Moral Reasoning: Kohlberg’s Theory

Answer 4

Moral dilemma: Heinz dilemma
- focusing on the reason that adolescents use to determine whether the paradigm was moral / immoral
- has 3 stages of moral reasoning:
–> fear of punishment or desire for gain
–> right and wrong are defined by convention
–> internalization of moral principle

This is guided by Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
- Preconventional morality: punishment and obedience orientation, instrumental hedonism
- Conventional morality: “good boy” morality, authority and social order maintaining
- Post conventional morality: morality of contract / individual rights / democratically accepted law, morality of individual principles of conscience

Question 5

Moral Reasoning: Social Domain theory

Answer 5

Difference between moral issues versus conventional issues

Showed that the reasons for why things were bad differed according to culture; collcetivist cultures focused on the consequences of the actions for the welfare of others, and individualist cultures focussed on the idea that they were just bad / immoral

Question 6

Theories for the development of self-evaluation

Answer 6

Freud
Hoffman
Moral Emotions

Question 7

Development of Self-Evaluation: Freud, Hoffman and Moral Emotions

Answer 7

Freud’s theory of conscience - the superego keeps the ego in check

Hoffman’s emotion attribution theory: kids that are highly temperamental are very guilt prone, this inhibited children’s proneness to violate rules. Suggests that parent’s way of disciplining their child is intrinsically linked to the child’s attribution of their own behaviour.

Moral emotions: linked to self-evaluation –> the way you are feeling about yourself is a major regulator of moral model –> guilt is linked to transgression, whereas shame is more generally linked to self imperfections

Question 8

Social cognitive theory: model of moral agency

Answer 8

Conception of moral agency in terms of self-regulatory mechanisms (i.e. the way people respond to you will determine your own personal standards)

Bandura’s agentic approach to self-regulation

behaviour becomes regulated by the interplay of personal and social sanctions

Reciprocal interaction model by Bandura: behavioural events, psychological processes, the environment

Question 9

Age of criminal responsibility

Answer 9

• in NSW, no child < 10 can be guilty of an offence
• 10-14 years of age = doli incapax (assumes that children are unable to have mens rea / criminal intent)
• if a child’s judgements of right and wrong are dependent on consequences, they might think that what they are doing is okay (because there are no legal consequences)
• 8 year olds can differentiate between childish mischief and criminal behaviour - and are more critical than older children (who make more justifications for ‘childish mischief’)

Question 10

Fried and Reppucci: Reasons why criminal responsibility should be 14 years

Answer 10

Argued that the informed consent model overemphasises cognitive components of decision making, rather than psychosocial factors.
Peers are subject to:
- peer pressure
- impaired risk perception
- impaired temporal perspective

This is particularly relevant to adolescents in the middle age range (15-16 years) who are most susceptible.

Also, variation between ethnic minorities –> viewed the crime as less serious and less likely for someone to get hurt, compared to white counterparts

Question 11

Criminal responsibility, moral disengagement and compentency

Answer 11

The more competent they were, the less delinquent behaviour engaged

If they engaged in moral disengagement, the more delinquent behaviour occurred

Question 12

what are some alternatives to court?

Answer 12

• restorative justice: a more active role for the offender –> relationship between offender, victim and community
  –> reparation to the victim, and the aim to build safer communities
  –> sanctions based on restorative values
• community based correctional systems

Question 13

At what age can children differentiate between right and wrong, and moral and social transgressions

Answer 13

3 - 4 years

Question 14

at 7 years, children can differentiate between

Answer 14

intentional acts and accidents

Question 15

at 8 years, hcildren can differentiate between

Answer 15

serious crime and childish mischief