Unfortunately it can be hard or impossible to differentiate between the two, but people are sorry for what they did for one of two reasons: - They have empathy

Unfortunately it can be hard or impossible to differentiate between the two, but people are sorry for what they did for one of two reasons: - They have empathy for the person they harmed and recognise that they should change their actions to avoid doing such harm again. - After being caught, they regret how their own freedoms are now jeopardised by their past actions. So they regret their actions, but mostly (or only) because of how it affects them (now) and not how other people may have been harmed. The problem with latter is that they are sometimes irredeemable, they may pay back their victims, but they see it kind of like losing a bet, they got caught this time so need to pay up and the lesson they internally learn is to not get caught.