The article presents an investigation of the effect of situational mitigators on moral evaluations of and advocated sanctions for hypothetical behaviors involving criminal, civil, and constitutional law issues and the relationship between cognitive moral development and the impact of the situational mitigators. We found that situational mitigators did have an impact on moral evaluations, particularly for the civil and constitutional law items. Respondents operating at the Principled Level of cognitive moral development consistently were the least likely to have their moral evaluations and advocated sanctions changed by the situational mitigators. Respondents operating at the Preconventional and Conventional Level were not markedly different in the propensity to alter their moral evaluations but the Conventional Respondents were more likely to change their advocated sanctions.
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