Research support for level of moral reasoning

• Research has been conducted in lots of different countries to support this explanation
• Colby and Kohlberg


  reported that the stages of development are universal though post-conventional was less common in rural communities
• Gudjonsson and Sigurdsson


  used their offending motivation questionnaire to assess 128 male offenders.

  38% did not consider the consequence of what they were doing.

  36% were confident they wouldnt be caught.

  These offenders were at the pre-conventional level
• Chen and Howitt


  used a test based on Kohlbergs stages to assess 330 male adolescent offenders(12-18) in Taiwan.

  Those who showed more advanced reasoning were less likely to involved in violent crimes