Young Persons’ Conceptions of Criminal Events

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Abstract
The explanations a person may provide of behaviour in everyday life is a central vehicle for clarifying the moral quality of an act. This study is concerned with some aspects of the young persons’ conception of criminal events. Students in the 15‐17 age range were administered a questionnaire asking them to list five crimes they had heard of, their source of information concerning each crime, the appropriate punishment, and the circumstances under which the punishment should be reduced. A wide variety of crimes was cited, and a systematic relationship was found between the type of crime, the source of information about the event and the sort of punishment proposed. Accounts of the circumstances under which the punishment should be reduced were analysed in terms of distinctions made by psychologists interested in attribution processes, and their relationship with the type of crime was examined. Some of the theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

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