Purpose There has been little empirical investigation into the theoretical relationship between moral reasoning and offending in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). The purpose of this paper is to compare offending and non-offending ID groups on a new measure of social-moral awareness, and on theory of mind (ToM). Design/methodology/approach A between groups design was used. The scores of 21 male offenders and 21 male non-offenders, all with ID and matched for IQ, were compared on the Social-Moral Awareness Test (SMAT) and on two ToM tasks. Findings There was no significant difference in SMAT scores or on first- or second-order ToM tasks between offending and non-offending groups. Better ToM performance significantly predicted higher SMAT scores and non-offending groups. Better ToM performance significantly predicted higher SMAT scores. Research limitations/implications Results were inconsistent with previous research. Further work is required to establish the validity and theoretical underpinnings of the SMAT. Development in the measurement of ToM for people with ID is also required. Originality/value This is the first use of the SMAT with a population of offenders who have ID. The findings suggest caution in its use in clinical settings.

中文翻译：

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智障成年罪犯的社会道德意识和心理理论

目的很少有实证研究对智障人士道德推理与犯罪之间的理论关系进行研究。本文的目的是在一种新的社会道德意识测度和心理理论（ToM）上比较违规和非违规ID组。设计/方法/方法使用小组之间的设计。在社交道德意识测验（SMAT）和两项ToM任务中比较了21名男性罪犯和21名男性罪犯的分数，这些分数都具有ID并且与IQ相匹配。研究结果犯罪组和非犯罪组之间的SMAT分数或一阶或二阶ToM任务没有显着差异。更好的ToM性能显着预测了更高的SMAT分数和非违规组。更好的ToM性能显着预测了更高的SMAT分数。研究局限性/含意结果与先前的研究不一致。需要进一步的工作来确定SMAT的有效性和理论基础。还需要开发具有ID的人的ToM测量。原创性/价值这是SMAT在具有ID的违法者群体中的首次使用。这些发现表明在临床环境中使用它时要谨慎。