Moral Judgement of Delinquents

It is a fact that the value system of those countries which are in a transitional period is significantly disrupted. Such condition has a negative effect on the entire society, institutions, families and young people. The proof for that is a heightened number of juvenile delinquents which is increasing more and more each year. Also, when it comes to a disrupted value system which is dominated by the famous, rich, influential and powerful, the question arises: From whom do the young learn about life and humane values? One of the features of many people who are going through the existing crises is explicit contradictoriness, meaning that they know what is right and moral but they do not act accordingly because it is a lot more difficult to satisfy their needs in that way. Therefore, young people too, modelling themselves on the adults, have not started to choose means to achieve their aims, while they are, at the same time, aware that the means they are using are not moral. In accordance with these facts, the problem of this theoretical qualitative research is set, and the problem is that young delinquents, besides knowing which moral values they should follow, still act in the opposite way. However, in order for a person to align his/her behaviour with personal and general principles of moral values, he/she has to reach a certain cognitive and developmental stage of moral judgement. That is why the problem of this research is the degree of moral judgement of juvenile delinquents.