Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development in the Justice System

This essay explores the application of Kohlberg's stages of moral development within the criminal justice system, focusing on how these stages can inform ethical practices for law enforcement officers. It identifies and discusses the three levels of Kohlberg's theory—pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional morality—and suggests ways to address each level within a police department. The essay also examines how officers can use these stages to evaluate different types of criminals, such as juvenile delinquents, insurance fraudsters, and serial killers, each representing a different level of moral development. Furthermore, it proposes strategies to prevent police corruption by addressing self-interest and promoting ethical standards, emphasizing the importance of prima facie duties like justice, harm-prevention, and reparation. The essay argues that by understanding and applying Kohlberg's stages, law enforcement can enhance ethical decision-making and promote a more just society.

Running Head: ASSIGNMENT 2 1
Incorporating Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development into the Justice System
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Kohlberg’s stages can be used in the criminal justice system to develop moral growth.
The concept has six key stages and three levels. The levels help in formulating strong ethical
principles that act as guidelines to officers of the law and are generally accepted by society.
These levels are:
• Pre-conventional morality,
• Conventional morality,
• Post-conventional morality
The first level (pre-conventional morality) has two major stages. This levels is mainly
applicable to juvenile school students. The ethical foundations that guide children are created
by adults. Therefore, adults must conduct themselves accordingly because they are
responsible for the success or failure of enforcing ethical standards. In pre-conventional
morality, decisions are mainly influenced by factors such as ethical standards and authority in
the surrounding community. The first stage in this level is the avoidance of punishment and
obedience. Every person must abstain from unacceptable activities (Ormrod, 2010).
The second stage is the exchange and individualism. At this stage, children usually
have different views regarding the existing rules and regulations. As an officer of the law, I
would ensure that I address these issues within my department by involving parents in
ensuring that moral and ethical standards are enforced. Moreover, this would ensure that
children easily conform to ethical and moral standards in society.
The second level, which is Conventional morality is evident in our society and is
applicable to both the adolescent as well as adults. We tend to apply ethical measures that are
regularly applied by senior persons in the society who are the role models. At this level,
decisions are influenced by individuals, groups as well as the norms of the society. The third

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stage which is interpersonal relationships is found in this level. At this stage, a person is often
influenced to conduct himself in a manner that portrays decency with the society.
The reputation of a person is endorsed by other people in society. The fourth stage
which is the final in level two is about maintaining social order. At this stage, every
individual must be aware of the generally accepted standards in society. Every individual
must make informed choices in order to comply with the existing rules and avoid being
punished. I would address this level in my department by utilising the employed standards by
within our society when creating ethical principles that would guide the conducts of law
enforcement officers as well as people in the society.
The third level is the Post-conventional morality, which has two major stages; stage 5
and stage 6. In these levels, decision making is determined by the moral standards and
thinking within society and is influenced by rights and justice. The fifth stage within this
level is social contract and individual rights. In this stage, people must acknowledge the fact
that while the rules can be quite beneficial to them, there are circumstances in which they
might be conflicting with the interests of other people (D'arcy, & Herath, 2011).
The sixth and final stage is the universal principles. In this stage, individuals have the
right to participate in formulating rules that are more lenient to all the involved parties. Post-
conventional morality is a fundamental concept in the criminal justice system because there
exist multiple ethical dilemmas which require ethical thinking and judgement. A good
examples is a case where one has made an offence on justifiable grounds, such as in self-
defence situation. In order to address such issues, my department must involve all members
of the public.
The law enforcers can utilize Kohlberg’s stages of moral stages to evaluate a different
kind of criminals. Juvenile delinquencies are mainly teenagers who engage in crime because

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their moral development might have been derailed at the third stage. These criminals can be
evaluated based on lack of respect to law enforcement authorities (Woolfolk, 2012). As a
consequence, they fail to conform to laws and regulations enforced by those in authority.
Criminals such as insurance frauds whose transition into stage two has been derailed can be
evaluated based on their desires and self-interests. These criminals reap from the weaknesses
of others but they are keen on avoiding detection because they are aware of the consequences.
Serial killers are in the first stage and are the mainly undeveloped group (Hannah, Avolio, &
May, 2011).
These kinds of criminals can be evaluated based on their inability to conform to all
ethical standards. Despite the fact that they are aware of their illegal actions, they continue to
engage in crime without minding their consequences. There are several solutions which can
be applied for criminals at different development stages. The issue of juvenile delinquency
can be addressed through guidance and counselling and also punishment (Gordon,
2012).Other crimes can be addressed by issuing different forms of punishments such as
incarceration to prevent others from engaging in such crimes.
Law enforcement officers mostly engage in corrupt activities as a result of their
failure to adhere to professional ethics .Moreover, corruption does occur in situations where
officers can betray the public trust by accepting bribes .This can be deterred by directly
addressing self-interest and pursuit of personal pleasure by officers through the establishment
of new ethical standards that guide the conduct of the police while serving the public (Koh,
2012). As an officer of the law, I would come up with new regulatory procedures that would
govern all law enforcer equally. I would also establish new control methods and the expected
goals and outcomes. The three prima facie duties that the law enforcers should implement
include justice, harm-prevention, and reparation. Justice is a duty that the law enforcers must
deliver by settling disputes by making effective judgements through ethical decisions

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(Woolfolk, 2012). Harm is also a key primary facie duty where law enforcers must protect the
general public from potential harm. This role requires a lot of sacrifices since it involves a lot
of risks when serving the general public. Reparation is the final prima facie duty (Ethics in
Public Relations,). It is a duty that involves compensating damage caused to others. It focuses
on making amends for the wrongful acts which one committed in the past.

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References
D'arcy, J., & Herath, T. (2011). A review and analysis of deterrence theory in the IS security
literature: making sense of the disparate findings. European Journal of Information
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Gordon, D. (2012). 17. (Vol. 1) Kohlberg and the Hidden Curriculum. Lawrence Kohlberg,
Oxford University Press on Demand, (263) Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., & May, D.
R. (2011). Moral maturation and moral conation: A capacity approach to explaining
moral thought and action. Academy of Management Review, 36(4), 663-685
Koh, C. (2012). Moral development and student motivation in moral education: A Singapore
study. Australian journal of education, 56(1), 83-101.
Ormrod, T. M. (2010). Kohlberg's Three Levels and Six Stages of Moral Reasoning.
Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/kohlbergs-moral-
reasoning/
Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2012). Academic optimism and teacher education. The Teacher Educator,
47(2), 91-100. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08878730.2012.662875.