The Relationship Between the Development of Personal Morality and Delinquency

• In Event: EDLC: theoretical perspectives

Abstract

In criminological research, personal morality is recognised as a key correlate of individual criminal behaviour. Within Situational Action Theory (SAT) and its subsequent refinement, the Developmental Ecological Action Model (DEA) proposed by Wikström (2004, 2005), personal morality is also identified as a significant causal factor in criminal behaviour. However, while SAT focusses primarily on explaining individual criminal acts, DEA extends this perspective to encompass entire criminal careers. Consequently, in the context of DEA, the relationship between personal morality and delinquency must be examined through the lens of developmental dynamics. Preliminary studies in this area generally support the assumptions of the Developmental Ecological Action Model (DEA) (see, e.g., Wikström et al., 2024). However, these investigations focus primarily on overall moral development and its association with delinquency trajectories. For a more precise understanding of the complex interplay between these developmental pathways, it is essential not to conceptualise morality as a singular, general developmental trajectory. Instead, a more nuanced approach should account for topic-specific moral development and the relationship of these with delinquency trajectories.

Using data from the second to sixth waves of the panel study Crime in the Modern City (CrimoC), conducted in Duisburg with a sample of more than 3000 adolescents, this study examines the relationship between developmental trajectories of delinquency and issue-specific morality. Bayesian parallel process latent growth models are used to analyse these dynamic relationships. Preliminary results suggest reciprocal effect structures between the developmental trajectories.

Author

• Jasper Bendler, University of Münster