Moral Development Among Court-Ordered Domestic Violence Offenders

Despite intense research efforts, a theoretical framework for guiding intervention with batterers that is relevant for both African-American and Caucasian batterers has yet to be described and empirically verified. This study examines the moral reasoning level of 111 adult men, 66% African-American, court-ordered into treatment for domestic violence offenses. Results indicate that the entire sample of batterers was employing a level of moral reasoning significantly lower than adults in general, and subgroup comparisons revealed no significant differences between African-American participants and Caucasian participants on level of moral reasoning. Although this study was descriptive, such findings indicate that moral development may offer an integrative theoretical framework from which a culturally relevant approach to intervention with batterers may be developed.