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Through an exploration of their narratives, this paper examines how social information processing styles among young Maltese men may fail to protect offenders from pressures to offend and consequently contribute to criminal career progression and increased commitment to criminality. The paper concludes that social cognitive distortions in the form of crime supportive attitudes, cognitive processing during the commission of illegal behavior and post offence neutralizations, or ‘excuses’ for illegal behavior, have an important role to play in the pursuit of a criminal career. This exploration of the role of interpersonal cognition throws light on the development of criminality to reveal important avenues for intervention.