ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the speciesism as a doxic practice and then it analysis the techniques of neutralisation, that helps to develop a broader understanding of the reasons why the animals are not given victim status even when they are gravely mistreated, or killed. The term speciesism was introduced by Richard Ryder and has since been expanded and defined in various ways. Speciesism and the construction of animals as 'others' are based on assumed and actual differences between humans and other animals on a number of dimensions. The differences between the humans and other animals can account for the reason that many humans fail to involve other animals in their 'empathic universe'. Sykes and Matza developed their theory of techniques of neutralisation to explore delinquency. Their theory has later been employed in a large body of criminological literature to understand a wide array of crimes and harms.
