Terry Mitchell

My Ranking of Crimes by Seriousness



Posted: Monday, October 05, 2009

by Terry Mitchell
http://commenterry.blogs.com

Almost everyone has their own idea of which crimes are the most heinous and how they would rank them by seriousness, and I'm no exception. Therefore, I have decided to give it a shot. However, this exercise is not as easy as it would seem at first blush. I doubt that any two people would come up with identical rankings or pecking orders. Accordingly, I'm quite sure that everyone will find something on my list to pick apart.

This is in no way an attempt to provide an exhaustive list of every possible crime or illegal activity, as it is a just a representation of most major categories of crime. If something is not on this list, it does not necessarily imply that I think it is okay or should be legal. In addition, some things, ex., terrorism, gang violence, and rioting, were intentionally left off, as they are covered under others that are listed.

Anyway, here goes:  

1. Murder

2. Voluntary manslaughter

3. Malicious wounding/Assault with a deadly weapon

4. Sodomy of a child **

5. Other forms rape/sexual intercourse with a child **

6. Forcible sodomy (teen) **

7. Other forms of rape (teen) **

8. Forcible sodomy (adult) **

9. Other forms of rape (adult) **

10. Felony assault and battery/Aggravated assault

11. Attempted murder without bodily harm (ex., shooting at someone and missing)

12. Abduction/Kidnapping without bodily harm

13. Armed robbery

14. Molestation* of child under age 10 **

15. Molestation* of child between 10 and 12 **

16. Molestation* of teenager between 13 and 17 **

17. Production or financing of child pornography **

18. Sexual assault* of an adult **

19. Child endangerment

20. Blackmail/Extortion

21. Arson

22. Manufacture/Distribution/Smuggling/Sales of illegal drugs

23. Treason

24. Burglary/Home invasion

25. Threatening/Menacing/Stalking/Intimidation

26. Identity theft

27. Fraud/Bunco/Scamming

28. Grand theft (unarmed)

29. Vandalism

30. Involuntary manslaughter/Negligent homicide

31. Child neglect/abandonment

32. Drunk driving

33. Consensual sex with teen between 13 and 15

34. Misdemeanor assault and battery

35. Political/Public corruption

36. Tax evasion

37. Prison/Jail escape

38. Unlawful flight/Bail jumping/Failure to appear in court

39. Simple assault

40. Providing alcohol to a minor

41. Entering the country illegally

42. Petit (petty) theft

43. Consensual sex with teen between 16 and 17 (in places where it's illegal)

44. Resisting arrest (active only; passive should not be a crime)

45. Disorderly conduct

46. Contempt of court

47. Providing tobacco products to a minor

48. Aggressive/Reckless driving

49. Indecent exposure/Public lewdness

50. Driving without a license or on a suspended license

51. Simple possession of illegal drugs

*Actions that do not rise to the level of forced sodomy or other forms of rape. Includes unwanted sexual advances such as inappropriate touching, fondling, and kissing. 

** Perpetrator should have to register as sex offender
 
Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Virginia, USA. He posts a least one article a day to his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - on subjects such as current events, politics, technology, society and culture, religion, health and well-being, self improvement, personal finance, trivia, and sports. He is also the owner of a new privacy-enhanced search engine - http://www.SearchMost.com.

This Article has been viewed 1,690 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.