A of the Role of Moral Reasoning in Burglary Offences - Literature review Example

Name Course Number Tutor’s Name Day, Month, Year. A review of the role of moral reasoning In burglary offences In general, moral reasoning entails psychological processing which enables an individual to think morally about what he or she is about to do or doing. Moral reasoning in burglary offence is the social cognition in reference to criminal activities among the youths. Moral reasoning and development is an essential topic psychologically and in education (Kohlberg, 1978). In order to reinforce the role of moral reasoning in burglary offences, we are going to look at the Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning and moral development. Kohlberg’s theory and stages of moral development comprise of six stages in three contrasting levels, his work was an extension of piaget’s theory by suggesting that moral development is a flowing activity the entire lifespan of an individual. Kohlberg did his research with a group of young children through interviews and observation. There was the presence of moral dilemmas in the group of the children. Later, they were interviewed and interrogated in order to rate their reasoning capacity based on their ruling of each dilemma (Kohlberg, 1978). The case below was one of the dilemmas presented to the group In London, a child was almost dying as a result if short illness of cancer, doctors said that she ad less than six hours to live unless in the presence of the necessary medication. The child’s father did have enough money and had no health insurance due to unemployment. What he could raise was only half the drug’s price. Out of desperation, he decided to break he glass and steal the drug from the pharmacy’s shelf. He succeeded and escaped with it and the ill child (Kohlberg, 1978). In relation to this theory, the main question is, did the father of that child have to do that? The above theory does not mainly focus on the right and wrong or justice, it center’s on the psychological reasoning which led to the decision made by the man in the above case. This brings us to the stages of reasoning in the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. The first level is called Pre conventional morality. Stage one of this level entails obedience and punishments; this is the first stage as it is seen on young children when they are developing morally. However, adults are also likely to express this stage of reasoning and thinking (Howitt, 2006). This is the stage where children view rules a permanent and obvious. This means that the main objective of obeying rules is the presence of punishment in cases where they don’t. In adults its main presence is at work places. The second stage entails individualism and change; like the first stage, its presence is manly in children whereby they consider individuals objectives and views in relation to how they satisfy the individual’s needs (Howitt, 2006). The second level is known as the conventional theory. Under this, we will continue with the previous stages in the first level in order to bring a series of moral development. The third stage is also referred to as the “good girl- good boy”. At this stage relationship is the main moral development and individuals live to their social roles and expectations. The individual concentrates on being humble, polite and being careful I the choices made in day to day activities and their impact on relationships. The fourth which is presence in this second level involves maintaining social order. This is a reinforcement of the previous stage since individuals put into considerations the entire society in their process of making decisions and conclusions (Howitt, 2006). The third level is the last of the moral development according to the Kohlberg’s theory. It brings the fifth stage of the social contract and individuals rights; this is the stage where individuals differ in thoughts, opinions in themselves and in other people (Kohlberg, 1978). The rule of law is the main moral development and enables the individual to maintain his standards among the members of his society. The universal principles are the last stage of the last level of the moral development. These are the ethics, morals.at this stage, individuals adhere to the stated principles of justice in and abstract reasoning in cases of woes with laws and rules (Kohlberg, 1978). The above levels and stages comprise the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and reasoning. However, in nature, presence of advantages leads to presence of disadvantages. Therefore, we are going to look at the criticisms of the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. First, the emphasis on justice to other values, therefore the theory becomes androcentric. The other critic according to some researchers is that Kohlberg’s theory is ill founded and researched as there is no evidence that supports it strongly. Other psychologists have had disagreements on the statement where Kohlberg states that formal reasoning is a result of primary moral action. Lastly, is the demonstrated lack of culture neutrality especially in cases where cultures differ (Kohlberg, 1978). Having looked at the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, we are going to look at the role of moral reasoning in relation to burglary. Burglary is a form of crime is also defined with the words breaking and entering an others source define it as house breaking. It’s committed with the intent of committing an offence like theft. A research was carried out on 100 high school students; its main aim was to show the relationships with the parents, morality, and burglary. Among the 100 students, the percentage that had been reported with burglary and peer theft had lower grades in their classwork unlike in those who had no report of peer theft, no strong relation was found between parents, the child and theft. Therefore, the presence of burglary was the role of moral development. In case like this among youths, guidance and counseling proves to be the most effective way of controlling it rather than administering of punishments (Howitt, 2006). Why would an adolescent individual commit burglary? One of the common reasons in relation to moral development is the silly urge to experience what and why others are prevented from crime. Moral development psychologists argue that the cognitive level of development affect the moral developmental ability to resist the tendency and temptation of a young person to act immorally. Therefore, the idea of morality is unclear; this is due to the fact that a behavior is only defined to be moral if it follows the level of the present situation and is fair and considerable. Contrary, immoral behaviors are acted when another individual is mistreated as a result of intentional acts from another individual. To add weight to the role of moral reasoning in cases of burglary, we are going to look at the moral cognitions; this consists of three components of moral behavior which include moral standards, moral cognitions and moral emotions. According to Kohlberg, the stages at which people reason is progressive. Piaget added on this point by reinforcing the theory of cognitive development by saying that at the lowest level at which an individual reasons morally, he or she mainly focuses on the concept of right and wrong and the results of failure to adhere to that rule (of right and wrong). (Chris 2003) At the higher levels, the moral thinking is developed and improved; therefore, the individual can raise complex argument and views at ideas at an understanding perspective. i. e. (Fairness and equality for common and own good). The above levels relate to immoral activities like burglary in the assumption that more developed individuals morally are likely to behave and act much better. However, the level of moral reasoning does not and is not supposed to suggest the choice people to engage in moral / immoral behaviors (Howitt, 2006). This shows that the extra cognitive factors are very vital in determining the general moral behaviors especially in youths. Personality and crime positively are the traits that should be considered I a victim of burglary, in order to understand this well we are first going to look at moral emotions. Scientific and psychological study of moral emotions is vital in one reasoning about the nature of moral emotions. Moral emotions are related with the welfare f the entire society or a limited number of persons such as an individual. These emotions steer the motivational drive, I. e the strength and to do either good or bad. In addition, negative emotions lead to a low self esteem and consciousness, as a result outcomes such as embarrassment, guilt and feeling ashamed are common among individuals in all age brackets. It’s also good to note that moral emotions as seen are of influence to moral behaviors in two different ways as consequential emotions and as anticipatory emotions (Kohlberg, 1978). Therefore, emotions directly or indirectly as apart of moral reasoning contribute actively in positive and negative moral acts. The cognitive theory has also been described to be the main role of moral reasoning that affects crime activities’ such as petty thefts and burglary .this research was done in a criminology department. Psychologists present in the research group aimed at the study of how these offenders developed and the mode of occurrence in relation to events. The major theory suggested that they happened in cases to specific an opportunity, which happens when their expectations are more than their capability. For instance if a child may argue out that burglary outweighs legal punishment, the moral reasoning at his first level drives him to his actions. The Lawrence Kohlberg theory moral developmental theory shows the importance of criticality and logicality in reasoning. Individuals according to Kohlberg should first consider the victims stage in case of crime before administering punishment or judgment (Kohlberg, 1978). This is because people’s progress is via varying stages that differ throughout their lifespan as they get older: starting with the obeying stage for fear of the outcomes (punishment), the conventional stage where people obey and follow the law generally because it’s the law. Lastly the after conventional stage, this entails argument concerning the law, this is achieved via justice and concrete thinking (Howitt, 2006). This also clearly shows that moral reasoning is strongly related to moral behaviors such as crime due to the act that since individuals such as the youth are still in the process of developing their intelligence, this explains their involvement in cases such as of burglary. Finally we can say that the Kohlberg’s theory of moral developmental is vital in understanding the level of reasoning of an individual, by so doing we can judge the actions in the level and stage’s perspective. They main idea of moral reasoning is based on the concept that moral reasoning is as a result of moral actions. To be precise the above theory suggests that the offender have poor and weak strength in moral reasoning and lack the power to shift out of the pre conventional stage. Evidently, offenders when investigated, they show low levels of intelligence and in moral reasoning, contrary to this, non offenders show high and improvement in moral reasoning under the same investigations and interviews. In some states, to reduce cases of immoral behaviors such as crime, drugs and burglary by the youths, institutions have been set up to better the moral reasoning ability. Other theories of aggression state that that some behaviors present in grown ups individuals were learned during the first level of development and due to changes in aspects like the environment they are retrieved and are very hard and impossible to change since they were well learned. . Read More

The third level is the last of the moral development according to the Kohlberg’s theory. It brings the fifth stage of the social contract and individuals rights; this is the stage where individuals differ in thoughts, opinions in themselves and in other people (Kohlberg, 1978). The rule of law is the main moral development and enables the individual to maintain his standards among the members of his society. The universal principles are the last stage of the last level of the moral development.

These are the ethics, morals.at this stage, individuals adhere to the stated principles of justice in and abstract reasoning in cases of woes with laws and rules (Kohlberg, 1978). The above levels and stages comprise the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and reasoning. However, in nature, presence of advantages leads to presence of disadvantages. Therefore, we are going to look at the criticisms of the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. First, the emphasis on justice to other values, therefore the theory becomes androcentric.

The other critic according to some researchers is that Kohlberg’s theory is ill founded and researched as there is no evidence that supports it strongly. Other psychologists have had disagreements on the statement where Kohlberg states that formal reasoning is a result of primary moral action. Lastly, is the demonstrated lack of culture neutrality especially in cases where cultures differ (Kohlberg, 1978). Having looked at the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, we are going to look at the role of moral reasoning in relation to burglary.

Burglary is a form of crime is also defined with the words breaking and entering an others source define it as house breaking. It’s committed with the intent of committing an offence like theft. A research was carried out on 100 high school students; its main aim was to show the relationships with the parents, morality, and burglary. Among the 100 students, the percentage that had been reported with burglary and peer theft had lower grades in their classwork unlike in those who had no report of peer theft, no strong relation was found between parents, the child and theft.

Therefore, the presence of burglary was the role of moral development. In case like this among youths, guidance and counseling proves to be the most effective way of controlling it rather than administering of punishments (Howitt, 2006). Why would an adolescent individual commit burglary? One of the common reasons in relation to moral development is the silly urge to experience what and why others are prevented from crime. Moral development psychologists argue that the cognitive level of development affect the moral developmental ability to resist the tendency and temptation of a young person to act immorally.

Therefore, the idea of morality is unclear; this is due to the fact that a behavior is only defined to be moral if it follows the level of the present situation and is fair and considerable. Contrary, immoral behaviors are acted when another individual is mistreated as a result of intentional acts from another individual. To add weight to the role of moral reasoning in cases of burglary, we are going to look at the moral cognitions; this consists of three components of moral behavior which include moral standards, moral cognitions and moral emotions.

According to Kohlberg, the stages at which people reason is progressive. Piaget added on this point by reinforcing the theory of cognitive development by saying that at the lowest level at which an individual reasons morally, he or she mainly focuses on the concept of right and wrong and the results of failure to adhere to that rule (of right and wrong). (Chris 2003) At the higher levels, the moral thinking is developed and improved; therefore, the individual can raise complex argument and views at ideas at an understanding perspective. i. e.

(Fairness and equality for common and own good). The above levels relate to immoral activities like burglary in the assumption that more developed individuals morally are likely to behave and act much better.

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