Contemporary conceptions of moral development relevant for prevention of juvenile delinquency

Abstract

Moral development has very important role in etiology of juvenile delinquency. Results of number empirical studies reliably confirm that the defect moral development (some authors calls it amoral) has the great significance for antisocial and criminal behavior in general, especially for the early delinquency which is one of the best predictor of adult chronically criminal behavior. Nowadays we have no consensus about psychological mechanism which lay upon morality, so we have to take to account various explanations of moral development in order to prevent delinquency successfully. In this article we consider the most important psychological theoretical views of moral development relevant for prevention of juvenile delinquency and criminal in general. Some of them are not present in our literature (Morach's, Haan's, Warren's), nevertheless they are bases for newer theory of delinquency. Successfully prevention programs need to integrate variable from the various conceptions of morality in order to enhance protective factors important for mature moral integrity (empathy, orientation toward others etc) and to reduce risk factors responsible for the defect and inverse morality (procriminal models etc).

Moralni razvoj ima veoma važnu ulogu u etiologiji delinkvencije. Rezultati brojnih empirijskih studija dosledno, pouzdano potvrđuju da je defektan moralni razvoj veoma značajan faktor antisocijalnog i kriminalnog ponašanje uopšte, posebno povezan sa ranom delikvencijom koja je jedan od najboljih prediktora odraslog hroničnog kriminalnog ponašanja. Do danas nije postignut konsenzus oko mehanizama koji leže u osnovi moralnosti, te da bismo uspešno prevenirali delikvenciju moramo uzeti u razmatranje različita objašnjenja moralnog razvoja. U ovom radu prikazana su najznačajnija psihološka gledišta moralnog razvoja relevantna za prevenciju maloletničke delinkvencije i kriminala uopšte. Neka od njih nisu prisutna u našoj literaturi (Morashova Haanova, Warrenova) iako služe kao osnov novijim teorijama delinkvencije. Uspešni preventivni programi morali bi integrisati varijable iz različitih teorija moralnosti kako bi se osnažili faktori zaštite važni za dostizanje moralne zrelosti (empatija, orijentacija na druge i sl) i redukovali faktori rizika odgovorni za defektnu i inverznu moralnost (prokriminalni uzori i sl).