Neutralization Theory

Sykes and Matza techniques of the neutralization theory explains the motives that hackers use when committing a cybercrime. The theory is said to be that hackers are deviant, this way they feel no guilt towards their victims. The five neutralizations explain concerning this theory rely on the thoughts of the hackers. The first one being in denial of responsibility, this gives the hacker the opportunity to justify their actions. When doing so they often blame their criminal acts on a force that is out of there control. In addition, the hacker would think that there was no harm caused with the victim. Nevertheless, the denial of injury corresponds with the hacker’s unremorseful behavior. This is because they feel that the victim can afford to
Furthermore, the denial of victim explorers through the hacker mind as revenge towards the person, a specific group, or race of people. “When they violate social norms, they justify their behavior by means of a specific set of justification, called neutralization techniques, which enable them to drift back and forth between conventional and illegitimate behaviors” (Schmallenger & Pittaro, 2008, p.317). Hackers crave the need for self-development and self-fulfillment while praying on their victim’s lifestyles. Although, there are many types of deviants. Some of the things that these hackers have in common is the blame game and that their actions were for a good reason. The neutralization theory has become very successful, not with just hackers but with others different deviants also. For Instance, these deviants can range from multiple criminal suspects. Such as with a robbery, murder, and child predator’s suspects. Each deviant expresses their own internal justifications. “To justify an act is to assert its positive value in the face of a claim to the contrary” (Schmallenger & Pittaro, 2008,
“The four groups were characterized as associates between deviance, participation in deviant individually or collectively, the division of labor within the group, and how long their deviant activities extend over time and space” (Schmallenger & Pittaro, 2008, p.338). These groups formed five different deviant groups. Loners like to act alone but they also share with each member of the group which means they are the lease sophisticated. Colleagues are more of a subculture group. They share their knowledge and skills with members of the group but they also choose to act alone by separation and division of labor. However, peers offend together but have no division of labor. Furthermore, teams last if they are progressive in finding new methods for engaging in deviant. “The formal organization is the most sophisticated deviant organization that Best and Luckenbill include in their framework. Formal organizations have all the elements of teams, as well as extended duration across time and space” (Schmallenger & Pittaro, 2008, p.338). The deviant groups experience short-term and long-term involvements with these activities. Loners being the least and formal organizations being the most effective. The impact that deviants have is that they can organize in different societies, different ways, and at different