Restorative Justice and the Development of Empathy, Remorse, and Moral Disengagement, in Adolescent Offenders

Source: (2004) A dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Psychology. University of Virginia.

This study was designed to examine the development of empathy, remorse, and moral disengagement among juvenile offenders, and determine the effectiveness of a victim empathy training (VET) curriculum. Research indicates that more empathic individuals are more likely to engage in prosocial acts and less likely to engage in delinquent acts. Theories regarding the self-sanctions for moral behavior suggest that youth who are more prone to moral disengagement thought processes tend to engage in more aggressive behavior. The capacity for remorse is theoretically related to empathy and moral disengagement, but has received little empirical attention.