Self-reflective metacognition is where people distance themselves from wrongdoing

Evidence

The metacognitive capability to reflect on the nature of oneself and the adequacy of one’s thoughts and actions is the most distinctly human core property of agency. It is primarily at the level of self-reflectiveness that individuals confront moral predicaments and distance and exonerate themselves from their detrimental conduct should they choose transgressive courses of action. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 74

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes that self-reflectiveness — not just behavior — is the site where moral disengagement operates, a linchpin for the whole argument.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 74
• XREF: connects to: Bystander passivity compounds through self-justification and victim devaluation. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 138