Getting drunk in public has to be the least offensive crime; this is because first of all it does not involve hurting anybody. At the end of the day the only thing that can happen is that the drunken person will be embarrassed the next day. Fixing prices on machines comes in second and the reason is because no real harm to other people comes from it. Soliciting for prostitution comes in third, this is because prostitution is a business, known to thrive with a willing seller and a willing buyer, there is usually no coercion and if both are willing and there is no harm as long as there is no minor involved. This is followed by selling liquor to minor, this is crime because by law minors are not allowed to purchase alcohol, selling to them is breaking the law.
The bottom three would be, catching your spouse with another person and killing them both, this is usually termed as a crime of passion but I view it as acting on impulse. Your spouse is not your property and if they feel like starting an affair with someone else and you find out, there is always the freedom of walking away and never coming back. Killing them solves nothing. Killing someone for a fee is a great crime, this is because it is a stranger who you don’t know yet you choose to kill them. No one should ever equate money to someone’s life (Newman, p197). The number sixteen is blowing up a building with people in it. This is terrorism at its peak. This is because it involves killing many people who one does not know. The motives for such crimes are based on race, beliefs or citizenship. The perpetrators do not realize that one does not choose their race or the country they are born in.
The cultural beliefs and moral upbringing is what determines what people think is socially acceptable. Your environment determines how you view the world and what you think is wrong or right. A person brought up in a war torn environment, full of guns and people killing each other, to them killing someone is not such a bad thing. But to someone who has lived in a peaceful environment without murders or even violence will believe that hitting your child is the worst crime against humanity let alone killing another human being.
Works Cited
Newman D.M, Sociology; Exploring the Architecture of Everyday life 9th edition, (2002), Thousand Oaks, CA Pine Forge Press
