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Morality and Crime:Moral
reasoning
• Moral reasoning: the rationalization, not
the action
• Based on:
– Level of intellectual development
– Level of social maturity
– Socialization
Morality and Crime: Intellectual
development
• Piaget
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Sensorimotor 0-2
Pre-operational 2-7
Concrete Operations 7-14
Formal operations 14
• Stages are potential and require learning.
• High levels of moral reasoning (eg. conscience)
requires formal operations. Many repeat
offenders are stuck in concrete operations or
lower due to poor development or socialization.
Morality and Crime: Social maturity
• Erikson’s 8 stages: Weltanschauung
– Trust v. mistrust 0-1
• Bowlby: attachment:
» Secure attachment
» Anxious attachment
» Attachment disorder
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Autonomy v. doubt 2-3
Initiative v. guilt 3-6
Industry v. Inferiority 7-12
Identity v. identitity diffusion 12-18
Intimacy v. isolation 18-30
Generativity v. stagnation 30-60
Integrity v. dispair 60
Morality and Crime: Social maturity
(2)
• Moral thinking requires developed concepts of
social value (self-worth or identity), and
empathy (compassion and altruism or intimacy)
• Male delinquents have high self-worth (identity)
but low empathy (intimacy)
• Female deliquents have high empathy (intimacy)
but low self-worth (identity)
• Therefore the crimes each commit have different
motivations and correction may require different
approaches
Morality and Crime:Male reasoning
• Kohlberg (moral dilemma test on males):
– Preconventional: reasoning based on own needs and
perceptions
• Stage 1: punishment and obedience
• Stage 2: instrumental stage
– Conventional: reasoning based on the need for social order and
social conformity
• Stage 3: good boy/girl
• Stage 4: law and order
– Postconventional: reasoning based on personal principles that
transcend social rules and norms
• Stage 5: social contract
• Stage 6: universal ethical principles
Morality and Crime:Male reasoning
(2)
• Movement through stages requires appropriate intellectual
and social maturity which are achieved through maturation
and socialization. Exposure to peers is essential.
• Most repeat offenders stuck in stages 1-3. Many gang
members may be stuck in stage 4 or 5 and socialized to the
rules of the gang which acts as a cult.
• Most non-delinquent males stuck in 4 and 5 and
socialized to obey society’s laws
• Most males socialized to believe that
transgression of the social rules requires
punishment (retribution perspective of justice)
Morality and Crime:Female reasoning
• Gilligan (moral dilemma test on females):
– Preconventional: caring is survival
• Stage 1: caring for self as means for survival
• Stage 2: feeling that self caring is selfish
– Conventional: caring is altruism
• Stage 3: caring for others and self-sacrifice
• Stage 4: search for equilibrium and fairness
– Conventional: caring is prevention and restoration
• Stage 5: minimize interpersonal friction
• Stage 6: interdependency and restoration of social
equilibrium
Morality and Crime:Female reasoning
(2)
• Movement through stages requires appropriate intellectual
and social maturity which are achieved through maturation
and socialization. Exposure to peers is essential.
• Most repeat offenders stuck in stages 1. Many gang
members may be stuck in stage 4 or 5 and socialized to the
rules of the gang which acts as a cult.
• Most non-delinquent females in 4, 5 and 6 and
socialized to be society’s peacemakers
• Most females socialized to believe that
transgression of the social rules requires
restoration of social equilibrium (restorative
perspective of justice)
Morality and Crime: Perspectives
and the Law
• Retribution model goals
– The focus is on the perpetrator: perpetrator of a crime must be
punished
• Reduce probability of repeat offence
• Act as deterrent to others
• Once punishment is enacted, justice is served and matter closed
• Restorative model goals
– The focus is on reintegrating all victims and the perpetrator to the
social equilibrium that had existed before
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Encounter
Allocution and amends
Reintegration
Inclusion
Morality and Crime: Perspectives
and the Law (2)
• Correctional approaches:
– Retribution model:
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Prisons
Boot camps
Labour camps
Capital punishment
– Restorative model:
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Victim impact statement
Victim offender mediation
Conferencing
Healing circles
Community service
Victim and offender assistance programs
ALTERED STATES: Diminished capacity and competence
1. Insanity: Judgment is not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI)
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Uses American Law Institute Standard: “A person is not responsible for criminal
conduct if at the time of the action , as a result of mental disease or defect,
he/she lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of the
criminal acts or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of the law”.
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The presence of an actual DISEASE or DEFECT must be proven (eg:
schizophrenia, mental retardation, tumour, etc.
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Rarely used dince it requires abandoning the presumption of innocence with no
guarantee that a jury or judge will accept the insanity plea.
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Does not include psychological or behavioural disorders as reasons for a NGRI
judgment
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It is an affirmative defense; a NGRI judgment means the person is considered
innocent and has no criminal record
2. Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI): is used for persons who have psychological or
behavioural disorders but no mental “disease” or “defect”
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It is a mitigating defense; person is guilty but liable to a lesser penalty
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It also imposes on the state the responsibility to provide treatment for the
disorder while the person is incarcerated
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Psychological and behavioural disorders include three main categories:
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personal distress
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disabling behaviour tendencies
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poor reality contact: eg. Disorientation, perceptual problems such as
hallucinations or delusions, syllogisms, and impairment resulting from
substance abuse
COMPETENCE
The issues of mental disorder or altered mental states brings up the issue of
competence. Three different issues or competence are important:
1.
competence to stand trial:
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Ability to understand the charges
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Ability to understand the range of penalties
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Ability to assist the attorneys in one’s own defense
2. competence to plead guilty:
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Requires a higher standard of competence
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Involves all of the elements of competence to stand trial plus:
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ability to understand that he/she is relinquishing his/her rights
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ability to understand the consequences of the plea
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has the appropriate motivation for entering the plea
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enters the plea without coercion
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is able to accurately allocute to the crime
3. Competence to manage one’s personal affairs:
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applied to non criminals who are:
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elderly,
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children and adolescents,
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people with psychological or behavioural disorders,
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People with mental disorders
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People with severe physical impairments
MALINGERING
The issue of diminished capacity also brings up the issue of malingering: the faking of
disorders. In the past psychologists and psychiatrists used their clinical judgment to
determine whether a person actually had diminished capacity or was malingering.
However, research has shown that they are notoriously poor in detecting malingering
based on clinical judgment:
Rosenhan (1973): he and 7 colleagues went to several psychologists and
psychiatrists complaining that they heard a voice repeating the word “one”. Despite the
fact that none had anything really wrong with them, all were admitted repeatedly to
various mental institutions. Seven were diagnosed as schizophrenic and the 8th as
manic-depressive. None of the staff in the hospitals could detect they were faking
(however, several of the patients in the hospital WERE able to detect the malingering).
The problem of malingering faced by the legal system is similar to that faced by
professors at CEGEPS and universities…how to detect it!
For the legal system, research has been ongoing to develop objective tests that can
detect malingering. One such attempt is the Fb scale on the MMPI-2. Further research is
needed.