A very long time ago I was working as a network administrator for university dorms. We had a kid get caught multiple times for network violations, and each time part of the punishment was having network access disabled for some amount of time.

What struck me the most was that he was more concerned about losing network access than any impact on his university standing. He was a courier for some warez group and was really angry and distraught that he'd not be able to keep up with his responsibilities there.

The point being, I think that people who need social interaction or a sense of belonging, and get it from the 'wrong' place, are liable to do 'wrong' stuff to stay in the group.

For me, I had a job. For me, it wasn't worth it to risk my income. I made a conscious choice to learn certain tools and techniques but to only use those skills to protect against their use. I could see how I could catch myself and how nothing good could come from that. If I could catch myself then someone else could catch me too.