Prosecutor Perceptions of Crime Seriousness

[I]nnumerable variables have been statistically correlated with the events covered by the legal terms crime and and provocative theories about these phenomena have been formulated, but even in the most sophisticated researches little or no account has been taken of the great diversity of conduct represented ... by such legal categories as offenses against the person, offenses against property, criminal homicide, rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, and others. This, we think, is a cogent reason for the dissatisfaction with present definitions of juvenile delinquency and the demand that something be done about it.2