NCJ Number
140409
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 36 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1992) Pages: 267-270
Date Published
1992
Length
4 pages
Annotation
In order to assess the legal responsibility of juvenile delinquents, consideration should be given to their moral development and level of cognitive functioning.
Abstract
Concepts of superego and conscience are essential to understanding the criminal responsibility of juvenile offenders. Superego and conscience are strictly connected, even though conscience develops later than the superego. After resolving his Oedipus or her Electra complex, the child tends to conform to and accept parents' personal and socially determined standards in order to be acceptable to the family and social group of which he or she is a part. Incorporation, identification, and ego ideals facilitate superego formation and are part of it. Conscience is generally understood as the mental entity that gives decisions a moral quality, i.e., goodness or badness. Moral principles and moral norms develop at the same pace as legal reasoning. Therefore, to assess the legal responsibility of juvenile delinquents, their moral development and level of cognitive functioning must be considered. 8 references