How suspects of bribery try to avoid conviction: neutralization techniques and market anomie

This article examines neutralization techniques that officials accused of bribery use to deny, justify or deflect responsibility for their behaviors. We searched media reports about bribery court cases. The officials appear to use a wide variety of neutralization techniques. They rarely directly confess the crimes they committed, even when there is abundant evidence. At a theoretical level, we examined the relationship between these techniques and aspects of market anomie. Many techniques seem to bear a relation with attitudes that anomie theorists and researchers consider typical of the economic sector. We conclude that neutralization techniques function as a mentally activating component of a broader syndrome of market-anomic attitudes.