Juvenile Delinquent Behavior: Is it Low Morality or Rational Choice?

• In Event: Roundtable: Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency poses a serious societal problem. Why does one young person engage in a criminal offense, while another does not? Analyzing the development of moral judgment in juvenile delinquents might contribute to answering this question. While traditional premises assert that delinquency is morally acceptable at the self-centered lower stages of moral reasoning and that the higher stages of moral judgment function as a buffer against aggressive and delinquent behavior, other studies have showed that adolescents employ a rational decision to participate in or desist from delinquent behavior which points to a high level of moral judgment. The primary purpose of this study is to measure moral judgment as related to delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents' behavior. This study collected data from normative and delinquent adolescents. All respondents filled self-report questionnaire which includes the following themes: delinquent behavior, moral competence (MCT), parental monitoring, delinquent peers and demographics. Preliminary results of the study shows that, even though juvenile delinquents present lower levels of moral judgment, they have levels of moral competence similar to their normative peers, but they utilize it differently.

Authors

• Irit Ein-Tal, Ezreel Valley College

• Turjeman Hagit, Western Galilee College