Palmer and Hollin

• Aim


  Investigate whether young offenders differed in their moral development compared to non-offenders
• Procedure

  • Compared criminals (13-21) from young offenders institutes in the West Midlands against age-matched controls to see if they differed in their moral reasoning
  • Questionnaires were given which asked about socio-economic status and two psychometric measures:
  • Socio-moral reflection measure - 11 questions measuring moral reasoning
  • Self-reported delinquency checklist - used to assess frequency of minor delinquency acts
• Results


  Male offenders showed the least mature moral reasoning (at Kohlbergs pre-conventional level), whereas non-offenders tended to use conventional reasoning