Age 12 in Developmental Psychology

Abstract

The new Penal Code/Criminal Code has brought a change concerning the age limit of young offenders. The lowering of the age limit when the offenders can be called to brewed a storm long before the code was completed, even at the time of planning, both among professionals and scientific experts of the field. This present study does not want to take a stand whether the lowering the age limit is an essential or undesired change. In inquiry of what can be expected of a 12-year-old child this descriptive study tries to sum up all those developmental psychological statements and findings that can prove to be helpful in adopting a policy concerning the legal modification. The author would like to review the nature of early adolescence from the point of view of personality psychology and cognitive psychology, describing the development of social relations as well as introducing the theories of moral consciousness and the evolution (development) formation of behaviour.