Traitor's initial motive for his crime (7)

I believe the answer is:

treason

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'his crime?' is the definition.
'treason' can be an answer for 'crime?' (treason is a kind of crime). I'm not certain of the 'his' bit.

'traitor's initial motive' is the wordplay.
'initial' indicates taking the first letters.
'motive' becomes 'reason' (reason is a kind of motive).
The initial letter of 'traitors' is 't'.
't'+'reason'='TREASON'

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for treason that I've seen before include "Offence against state" , "Crime of disloyalty" , "Act of betrayal of a government" , "Crime of national betrayal" , "One's art? (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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