AO3 Moral Reasoning

• +Evidence supports the role of moral reasoning. Palmer and Hollin compared moral reasoning of offenders and non-offenders on a SRM-SF scale (11 moral dilemmas). Offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-offenders group (e.g. not taking things that belong to someone else). This is consistent with Kohlberg's theory, and suggests his theory of criminality has validity.
• -Moral reasoning may depend on the type of offence. Thornton and Reid found that people whose crimes were for financial gain (e.g. robbery) were more likely to show pre-conventional level than if impulsive crime (e.g. assault). Pre-conventional moral reasoning tends to be associated with crimes in which offenders believe they have a good chance of evading punishment. This suggests that Kohlberg's theory may not apply to all forms of crime.
• Thinking v Behaviour

  Kohlberg's theory provides insight into the criminal mind - offenders may be more childlike and egocentric when making moral judgements. However, moral thinking is not the same as moral behaviour. Moral reasoning may be used to explain behaviour but only afterwards. This suggests that understanding moral behaviour may be more useful as not everyone who has criminal thoughts will act on them.