ABSTRACT

In the present study we investigated the relationship between moral judgment competence, antisocial attitudes and family background as contributors to criminal behavior. We used two contrasting samples: offenders convicted for murder and police students, in order to better capture the variables differentiating between offenders and non-offenders. We were also interested in testing the developmental delay hypothesis, which states that it is possible for violent offenders to operate at lower levels of moral judgment competence. The results partially confirmed this hypothesis (at a global level of moral reasoning competence, but with a preference of both groups for moral reasoning placed at stage 4: �maintaining the social order�). The other two variables that were investigated � antisocial attitudes and family background � were found to adequately distinguish between the two samples.

KEYWORDS: moral judgment competence, antisocial attitudes, family background, developmental delay hypothesis.

PAGES: 143-159