NCJ Number
79480
Journal
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (1981) Pages: 37-53
Date Published
1981
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Maturity of moral reasoning, as measured by Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Scale, was compared across three groups of male prisoners and one group of male college students.
Abstract
The reasons for incarceration included theft, use of marihuana, and evasion of the draft by reason of faith (the Jehovah's Witnesses sect). Differences in moral judgment scores across the groups were analyzed using both parametric and nonparametric techniques. An analysis of variances revealed a significant main effect for groups, while the means of the other groups did not differ significantly from one another. A binomial (goodness-of-fit) test more successfully differentiated levels of moral reasoning across groups. Jehovah's Witnesses were characterized by conventionality, theft subjects by premoral reasoning, and marihuana subjects by principled reasoning. The student group used conventional and principled levels of moral reasoning equally. Study data and 16 references are included. (Author abstract modified)