Représentations de la délinquance chez des enfants âgés de 5 à 10 ans

Abstract

This study has been carried out among 5 to 10 year old children and students in order to determine the way in which representations of delinquency vary in accordance with age. Firstly, the subjects were asked to assess different sort of offences. Then, they had to attempt to establish the causes, the types and the reasons of punishments, which were the most relevant in their view. Our results show that children from the age of eight are able to distinguish between transgressions of social conventions, incivilities, offences and crimes. Concerning delinquency three different types of reaction exist depending on age : a tendency to punish (usually found amongst the youngest children), a social orientation (concerning on average children aged around 10) and a psychological orientation (expressed by adults).