Exploring the Effects of Crime Severity and Motivation on Moral and Empathetic Perceptions of Crime
Start Date
April 2026
Location
3rd floor - Library
Abstract
Major problem/purpose: While the legal system presumes that individuals understand the consequences of their actions, research suggests that the decision to commit a crime can be shaped by social and psychological factors. According to Prieur (2018), emotions—especially those arising from social exclusion, inequality, or marginalization—can significantly influence an individual's behavior. In addition, (Herman, 2023) found that circumstances with rationalization increased the situational moral acceptability of crime opportunities. However, there is limited knowledge surrounding college students’ perceptions of crimes. This study aims to explore the views of college students regarding crimes of varying severity and intent.
Procedure: The present study examines how perceptions of crime vary according to the intent and circumstances surrounding the crime, as well as individual characteristics of empathy and morality.
Participants are completing an online survey using the Moral Identity Questionnaire (MIQ), which has subscales including perspective taking and the empathetic concern. Then, participants will be randomly assigned to one of four vignettes. The vignettes vary in terms of severity and necessity of the crime presented: one has a high severity, high necessity crime; one has a high severity and low necessity crime; one is a low severity, low necessity crime; and one with low severity and high necessity crime. After reading the vignette, participants will complete the Beliefs About Crime Scale, which was created for this study, with questions like, “Certain crimes are okay to commit” and “Small crimes aren’t a big deal.”
We hypothesize that college students who have high empathy/morality will have more lenient beliefs about crime when the crime is severe compared to those with low empathy/morality. Further, we expect that participants exposed to vignettes about low necessity and high severity crime will demonstrate less lenient beliefs about crime, especially if they have low empathy/morality.
Results found that high severity crime resulted in lower belief that the crime was morally wrong and lower responsibility on the perpetrator. In addition, results showed that high necessity crimes resulted in lower likelihood of reporting the crime, lower belief that the crime was morally wrong, and higher empathy.
Exploring the Effects of Crime Severity and Motivation on Moral and Empathetic Perceptions of Crime
3rd floor - Library
Major problem/purpose: While the legal system presumes that individuals understand the consequences of their actions, research suggests that the decision to commit a crime can be shaped by social and psychological factors. According to Prieur (2018), emotions—especially those arising from social exclusion, inequality, or marginalization—can significantly influence an individual's behavior. In addition, (Herman, 2023) found that circumstances with rationalization increased the situational moral acceptability of crime opportunities. However, there is limited knowledge surrounding college students’ perceptions of crimes. This study aims to explore the views of college students regarding crimes of varying severity and intent.
Procedure: The present study examines how perceptions of crime vary according to the intent and circumstances surrounding the crime, as well as individual characteristics of empathy and morality.
Participants are completing an online survey using the Moral Identity Questionnaire (MIQ), which has subscales including perspective taking and the empathetic concern. Then, participants will be randomly assigned to one of four vignettes. The vignettes vary in terms of severity and necessity of the crime presented: one has a high severity, high necessity crime; one has a high severity and low necessity crime; one is a low severity, low necessity crime; and one with low severity and high necessity crime. After reading the vignette, participants will complete the Beliefs About Crime Scale, which was created for this study, with questions like, “Certain crimes are okay to commit” and “Small crimes aren’t a big deal.”
We hypothesize that college students who have high empathy/morality will have more lenient beliefs about crime when the crime is severe compared to those with low empathy/morality. Further, we expect that participants exposed to vignettes about low necessity and high severity crime will demonstrate less lenient beliefs about crime, especially if they have low empathy/morality.
Results found that high severity crime resulted in lower belief that the crime was morally wrong and lower responsibility on the perpetrator. In addition, results showed that high necessity crimes resulted in lower likelihood of reporting the crime, lower belief that the crime was morally wrong, and higher empathy.
