Crime Seriousness

STUDIES OF CRIME seriousness have existed since at least 1964. Those studies generally found that respondents perceive crimes of violence to be more severe than property crimes. Also, most of those surveys have found that there is consensus between different populations on ratings of crime seriousness. Most of these studies have looked at citizens' perceptions of severity of crimes, without a clear definition of what is meant by crime seriousness or severity. Generally, the only concept common to all definitions of crime seriousness has been the idea of perceptions of crimes. Furthermore, many of theses studies placer a greater emphasis on traditional core offenses, such as murder, robbery, and assault, than on white-collar offenses, and crimes committed by corporations.

Those studies that have compared white-collar and ...