Cognitive Explainations for Crime

• Cognitive explainations for crim look for the origins of offending in the mind of the individual.
• Kohlberg's theory suggests that criminals have a lower level of moral reasoning and the crime is related to judgements of right and wrong.
• Moral reasoning refers to the process by which an individual draws upon their own value system to determine whether an action is right or wrong.
• Decisions and judgments of issues of right and wrong can be sumarised in a stage theory of moral development. The higher the stage, the more sophisticated the reasoning based on moral dilemmas.
• Studies show that offenders show a lower level of moral reasoning.
• Kohlberg et al (1973) found that a group of violent youths were significantly lower in moral development - Even after controlling social background.