Child morality and ethics developement?

At what age do children and or teens understand the basics from right from wrong. this is for a debate i which we are debating juvenile death penalty

my gf is a psychologist who has to deal with such issues. my understanding from discussing with her or other reading I have done is that the mind is not fully formed into adult mode until the early 20s.

this is the reason for age of consent laws, btw - it is because the child does not have the fully formed brain function to make a legal decision at that age, even if they are capable of committing the act.

good question, I've heard abstract thought begins at about 3-4 years old. but child morality has A LOT to do with upbringing/environment. normally, the child's morality is based on the home environment at that age. if the parents are immoral, so will be the child. after the child starts school, the dynamic of the child's environment changes as well. some need time to "adjust" to that kind of social/moral environment. a child should ultimately understand right from wrong at the second grade level. ( adjustment time given) but this is just my opinion. there are so many factors at play that it makes it difficult to set a single standard (a particular age). hope this helps.....

i once heard the psychologically it is around the age of 5. but ur debate shouldn't be about that totally it should be about the problems of teaching proper problem solving skills. because even if they know the difference between right or wrong it won't matter if they don't have the skills to solve problems that deal with how one acts. lets say a kid grows up in a spanking family, this kid is going to relate good/bad with instant gratification and punishment. there is no room to understand why or how the act is bad or good all there is a punishment. this kid lack problem solving skills and the knowledge of how to see the consequences of actions. i don't think juvenile death penalty should be given just based on the bad acts the kid did but on the ability to cope with problems.. is it reversible? does he/she have a clue on how to solve constructivily problems? how was he/she raised to see problems? etc... based on these question one can access if the kid can be help and how sever the problem is.