Well, in order for humans to be in the image of God, they must have dominion through intellect (wisdom) to choose freely and judge. For humans to be moral agents, in the likeness of God, they must know what is morally good and what is immoral; so that they may be righteous, merciful and just in the exercise of their dominion, as their Father is the exercise of His.
God certainly did not intend man to be immoral and unrighteous. The whole concept of moral, repsonsible and righteous becomes meaningless unless man has free will to exercise the qualities God gave him, in the image and likeness of God.
But in order for man to be free he must be able to choose between what is right and what is not right. The only alternative is to create a man who is, like animals, driven by necessities, and has dominion over lower species by brute force alone. And that's not how God created man.
Then God does not get what He wants? Maybe God decided that the best way for us to know righteousness was to have the experience of sinning. We learn from our mistakes. God doesn't make us sin, but He creates us with the potential to sin, which He knows we will do. God doesn't intend the elect to end up immoral or unrighteous, but He teaches us righteousness by allowing us to be unrighteous.
But in order for man to be free he must be able to choose between what is right and what is not right. The only alternative is to create a man who is, like animals, driven by necessities, and has dominion over lower species by brute force alone. And that's not how God created man.
But isn't it the truth that sets us free? Were we born with the truth? I don't think so. The truth comes with salvation, doesn't it? Can an unregenerated heart know the truth? I would agree that we are free to choose evil after salvation, but we are not born so. I would say we are born dead in sin, so from birth we will sin. It just isn't a choice until after salvation.