Attribution of Blame:

Attribution of blame (one of eight cognitive mechanisms of moral disengagement) gives responsibility for a negative event or outcome to someone or something, allowing individuals to justify their behavior and ignore internal moral standards. Broader than  blame-shifting (avoiding responsibility for bad acts or mistakes by blaming the “victim”), attribution of blame encompasses the varied ways people explain why something went wrong. They might claim the victim brought the harm upon themselves or that the workplace forced their hand: blaming a victim of sexual assault for their attire or behavior, justifying financial fraud by claiming the victims were greedy, or attributing unethical actions to authority figures.