If the Punishment Should Fit the Crime, How Serious Are 75 Crimes? An Empirical Study

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of a survey of more than 500 young and middleaged college-educated adults regarding their views on the seriousness of 75 crimes. If the goal is to apply the legal principle that the punishment should fit the crime, one must first know how serious the crime is. This study ranks 75 crimes in terms of seriousness, using a Likert Scale where 1 is not at all serious and 100 is extremely serious. Some comparisons of mean scores were made, and p-values were computed, to determine whether certain crimes are significantly more serious than other crimes. Is the life of a prostitute more or less valuable than the life of a drug dealer, politician or lawyer? Are some kinds of discrimination more serious than others? In the case of statutory rape, should the criminal be punished more severely if it is a man rather than a woman, or should their punishments be equal? These and other questions are answered in this study. The authors grant permission to replicate this study using their survey instrument.