Moral Filtering and Criminal Choice Processes: A Replication and Extension
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Recent theoretical developments in criminology have emphasized the role of moral emotions, moral identity, and moral context in the criminal choice process. Using data collected via survey from 800 respondents in Belgrade, Serbia in the Spring of 2017 and 826 respondents in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summer of 2019, this paper replicates and extends the results of a recent study using similar sampling and measurement strategies in Dhaka, Bangladesh (see Brauer and Tittle, 2017). Preliminary results from the Belgrade sample are congruent with the previous study in Bangladesh and thus, the theoretical predictions regarding the moral filtering of criminal action alternatives (e.g., Wikström et al., 2012). We plan to analyze the same measures and estimate similar models in the Sarajevo sample and compare the results across these varying contexts. As a result, this study makes two substantive and methodological contributions. First, it examines the generalizability of the moral filtering process by providing multiple data points regarding this key mechanism of Situational Action Theory. Second, it does so within non-western contexts (Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) that have enjoyed little attention within the criminological literature.
