The theory that is best applied to the criminal problem of child abuse is the Neutralization Theory. While several abusers were once abused themselves, which would point to the Differential Association theory, those who have chosen to engage in this behavior have come to psychologically justify what the acts the are committing. The Neutralization theory describes how these people justify it to themselves. An abuser may deny responsibility of the act itself by blaming their abuse on a work-rated problem by saying something such as: “I was stressed from work, so I wasn’t in the right mindset when I came home.” A person confronted with charges for child abuse my say that their victim only has a few bruises, so what they did wasn’t really wrong.
