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Reframing the Victim-Offender Overlap: Moral Injury and Adolescent Offending
Ava R Alexander1, Patricia K Kerig2
1Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 S 1530 E BEH S 502, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA. Ava.Alexander@psych.utah.edu.
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review
|April 21, 2025
Summary
Early trauma increases adolescent offending risk. Moral injury, distress from violating moral beliefs, may explain this link by affecting development in justice-involved youth.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Criminology
Background:
- Childhood trauma and maltreatment are linked to adolescent offending.
- Mechanisms connecting trauma to offending are not well understood.
- Moral injury, previously studied in veterans, is now being applied to youth.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review evidence on moral injury in justice-involved youth.
- To synthesize research linking moral injury to juvenile offending.
- To propose a model of moral injury and juvenile offending.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of empirical evidence on moral injury in justice-involved youth.
- Synthesis of theories from developmental psychology, clinical psychology, and criminology.
- Development of a novel dynamic model linking moral injury to juvenile offending.
Main Results:
- Moral injury is prevalent in justice-involved youth.
- Disruptions in cognitive, affective, and social development may link moral injury to offending.
- A dynamic model is proposed to explain the association.
Conclusions:
- Moral injury offers a new perspective on the victim-offender overlap in adolescents.
- Understanding moral injury is crucial for research, clinical practice, and juvenile justice policy.
- Further research is needed to explore the proposed model and its implications.
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