That’s the one, right there…I can almost see an instance where killing an adult could be justified but when you abuse a child you are potentially breaking an innocent being for the rest of their life. Hate it, can’t forgive that one…
I do not think it is that clear cut.
Yes crimes against kids are horrendous, but is one quick death of a child worse than (say) a thousand adults tortured for hours until they eventually die in the worst suffering possible?
I do not really think you can have an absolute scale once you get to a certainly level they are all as bad as the next.
Capable of reading and nuanced thought, we just disagree…I do not believe the torture of a thousand adults is worse than one child being abused, ESPECIALLY SA. Clear enough for you?
There are two sex offenders living near me (like 2-3 blocks away). One SA’d an 8 y/o girl and the other was in possession of child porn. It’s crazy how these people are able to live out in the world after committing such atrocities. As a teenage girl, I find it pretty frightening to live so close to them.
This reminds me... I was just watching the movie "The Last of Sheila", and one character it turns out is a child molester, but everyone else basically ignores it, and considers it on par with shoplifting or being an alcoholic...
I found it very odd.
I think most people have felt angry enough to feel like they want to murder someone. It's more relatable. Most people don't think about kids like that. It's the ultimate selfish act. So fucking lost in a self serving fantasy with no regard to the damage it causes. I believe those people are incapable of recovering.
Objectively speaking, mass murder is worse. Subjectively, we’re all kinda desensitized to murder, but very much not desensitized to sex crimes or child-target crimes, so those feel more morally wrong to us.
I agree with this in a weird way. Logically, it makes sense. Mass murder. Is a lot of lives lost. Compared to one life ruined. But i think what the person above said comes into play here. I understand it more than i do sex crimes against children. That seems so far out of any reality i exist in. As in, i dont understand it at all in any way. But mass murders kinda make sense ? But at the same time, we assume they have done it more than once, which is true for a lot of predators.
If you realize that people can only live once murder seems a lot worse. You're taking everything away. Victims of sex crimes can recover and still be able to live happy
That takes effort to comprehend, so most people wouldn’t bother thinking of that.
Which is not necessarily an insult, just an observation of humanity’s general preference for energy conservation.
The victim of a murder is dead. The victim of a sexual assault has to live with what’s happened to them for the rest of their life, and the perpetrator (statistically) is very likely to reoffend. I feel like this makes it worse.
Consider, however, that the murder victim’s friends and family will be traumatized as well. I’m unsure how sa trauma compares to ‘my friend/son/etc was murdered’ trauma, but there’s more people experiencing the latter, so I feel like one murder has overall more bad effects than one sexual assault.
Iono killing people is something I can comprehend but sex crimes against children is just incomprehensible to me. Feels so wrong even though I know murdering a bunch of people is also wrong.
killing people is incoomprehensible to me. i can understand sex crimes against children. some people have extremely messed up brains that leads to them doing sex crimes against children
Yeah and that’s fine, we’re allowed to have different feelings towards different crimes. People are just telling you how they feel against sex crimes against children, it’s very incomprehensible to many
Eh, everybody dies and very few do so voluntarily. Mass murder is just a more expedient way of achieving the same result. Now here’s a real crime: throwing paper towels in the toilet when there are signs everywhere telling you not to. That’s some vile stuff.
I have thought about this for years. I guess all that I would ask for would be humane treatment while they are alive, it would not be realistic to think that people would not eat meat.
It's generally considered poor form in hunting to not be as quick and efficient as possible. A clean shot to the deer's heart/lungs is ideal, anywhere else where the creature has a chance to run off and bleed to death reflects badly on you. Hunters have more respect for game than you give them credit for.
Oh, I think that hunters get their meat ‘honestly’, not wrapped in a package at the store. I know what you mean about being a responsible hunter, and how proper hunters don’t think much of yahoos. For a fact, hunters have saved more habitat than anyone generally knows. It’s a win/win, in a weird way.
Depending on the situation, dealing with the trauma after rape can be so arduous that one may say otherwise.
I’d much rather be simply murdered than live through what Junko Furuta endured.
I mean maybe. Depends. Murder could have been in self-defense. There is literally never a valid reason to rape somebody.
EDIT: Forgive me for not knowing the nuances of the legal terms for having killed somebody under various circumstances --- not something I often think about.
Kind of a toss up for me. Sex crimes against children, genocide, torture. Sex crimes in general are terrible. But since we're talking "worst"....
I'd rather die quickly and painlessly rather than slowly and painfully.
Great phrase I heard one time: "The tyranny of the strong over the weak." Any time a strong person takes advantage of a weaker person, they should get an ass whoopin'.
You’re arguing about how someone feels, and that’s pointless. Would you get the same legal sentence? No. Would I do the same thing to you as I would a murderer if I wouldn’t face any punishment? Yes.
You’re trying to argue feelings and that just doesn’t work.
Even with murder, you sometimes won’t get life in prison. So, that point is moot.
It’s wrong, period. It’s all equally wrong. But, depending on other circumstances the punishment will vary.
From a moral perspective, we’ve got some great answers in the comments already: perfidy(degradation of trust in humanity), rape, rape of children, human trafficking, animal abuse, taking advantage of mentally disabled, etc.
From an objective perspective(oxymoron?), that guy who said the destruction of Alderaan by the Death Star. That is far greater than even *genocide*, as that refers to only thethe elimination of a racial/political/cultural group, but the Death Star caused the annihilation of *countless species*. Google actually has a name for it: Omnicide.
Against another person? Rape.
Against a friend? Absolute betrayal.
Against someones family? Murder.
Against their country? Treason.
Against the world? Genocide/Nuclear Holocaust.
Causing irreversible locked-in syndrome to someone on purpose.
I think this is even worse than crimes against children.
Deliberately causing someone's body to become a prison, without hope of ever being able to even communicate from that condition with the outside world, and having no hope of it ever being cured or removed until you die of natural causes...
Beyond horrific, monstrous and hideous.
Perfidy, or specifically whenever you're using the appearance of good faith/innocence to nefarious ends. Hiding weapons in schools, faking surrender, targeting medical personnel mid-treatment, suicide bombing food/medical convoys guised as a civilian, there's a lot of ways it manifests. But the reason I consider it the worst is because it erodes the last bastion of decency in times of conflict: trust in good will. So not only do you cause more immediate suffering, but you cause a general degradation of decency and escalate ongoing suffering for all parties involved, they're not going to trust that you're really a civilian anymore, or that you're really trying to surrender, or that the school is really just a school, and it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
Crimes against those who are the most vulnerable and can't defend themselves, such as infants, children, the elderly, and profoundly disabled people that rely on others for protection
sex crimes they should get their wees removed for that. And their nuts too. So they can never even have the possibility or hurting someone or getting pleasure ever again.
Lying about crimes. It's a double betrayal. To the innocent person blamed and to any future victims of that type of crime as they will be believed less.
The worst is these are very rarely prosecuted.
This is going to maybe sound counter because many may think murder or many of the horrifically violent crimes and I agree they are bad. However I would say abandoning your child.
I am not at all referring to those who put a child up for adoption. That is not abandonment that is seeking someone who can care for your kid if you can not.
I am also not just talking about people who leave their spouse to take care of their kid alone. However I would include in this people who quiet quit as parents. They neglect their kids or fail to guide them as they grow or provide for them.
Abandoning a child not only can destroy that child's self esteem but it erodes the fabric of society and causes chain reactions where public health, safety and even economic impacts for many generations are felt by all of society. That child could be irreversibly damaged or at least struggle so much in interpersonal relationships that they themselves cause damage to those around them as they struggle to fill in the gaps that that parent left.
These children could even turn to crime because they have a skewed sense of morality or lost respect for social constructs, law and order. They may turn to drugs to try to heal the pain. Sometimes they are also abusive to their spouses and kids and may themselves abandon their kids continuing the cycle.
To further illustrate how this affects our society about 70% of teens locked up in state juvenile detention facilities are from single parent homes. About 70% of teen gang members, school dropouts, teen suicide, teen pregnancy and teen drug users come from single parent homes. For fatherless homes they are 279% more likely to carry guns and deal drugs
Abandoning a child places an enormous burden on the child and society and it erodes the quality of life of that child and the quality of our society. The damage that it causes is immeasurable and a lot of the answers to this question will often find their roots in child abandonment.
Source for stats: [https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/fact-sheet-fatherhood-and-crime](https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/fact-sheet-fatherhood-and-crime)
So surprised that so many people think being murdered isn’t the worst thing that could happen to you… being killed it’s final. There are no second chances. At least with other crimes there is some hope you can be ok again.
Murder. You only get one life and to have it taken from you against your will negates all agency. Sex crimes and such, especially against children, are definitely bad, but you can recover from them and go on to live a long, reasonably well-adjusted life.
'the worst' would just be some total accumulation of bad things. Like, it's worse to kill two people than it is one. Thinking about this had my brain form a knot around the idea that someone exterminating all of humanity wouldn't technically be a crime though since there'd be no one left to deem it a crime. So I guess the answer is 'killing all people except 2': the perp and the judge.
Yeah, that’s really bad. Some people mentioned perfidy too. That’s pretty bad too.
I would definitely add those to the list.
Honestly, there is no such thing as the “worst crime”. All of these examples are horrible. But, we’re not the ones deciding who gets away with this and what level of punishment these criminals get.
Oh, damn I totally forgot about assaulting people with disabilities and the elderly. I mentioned kids in my answer. But, totally spaced on PWDs and the elderly.
I might have thought murder, before. Since Trump and Republicans, and their ongoing insurrection, forcing a family to flee their state for their ten year old to have an abortion, which, of course, was the result of rape, 26,000 women and girls, in Texas, alone, forced to carry pregnancies which are the result of rape, since Roe versus Wade was overturned, hundreds of mass shootings, because Republicans refuse to vote to ban assault weapons, Republicans denying weapons to Ukraine for six months, as Russia continues to slaughter innocent Ukrainians-- I'll say that overturning American Democracy is one of the worst crimes in history.
Crimes against children.
Yup the most despicable people are those who exploit the innocence of children
This is it for me. Makes me sick.
That’s the one, right there…I can almost see an instance where killing an adult could be justified but when you abuse a child you are potentially breaking an innocent being for the rest of their life. Hate it, can’t forgive that one…
Zero grey or gray area when it comes to hurting children. As a mother I’m done trying to reason or talk with these people 😑 listen to the Mothers
I do not think it is that clear cut. Yes crimes against kids are horrendous, but is one quick death of a child worse than (say) a thousand adults tortured for hours until they eventually die in the worst suffering possible? I do not really think you can have an absolute scale once you get to a certainly level they are all as bad as the next.
If it’s is SA, yes, stop justifying this shit…
How the hell are they justifying it? Its like you didnt even read what they said.
Thanks for the support. I think some people either just do not read things, or are incapable of nuanced thought.
Capable of reading and nuanced thought, we just disagree…I do not believe the torture of a thousand adults is worse than one child being abused, ESPECIALLY SA. Clear enough for you?
I absolutely read it, possibly you’re not hearing me
What about "horrendous" made you think I was justifying it?
Putting a ‘but’ after it…
Abusing kids, abusing animals, taking advantage of mentally disabled or demented adults.
Sex crimes against children. Totally the worst. Penalties should include death.
As a victim of it, I would agree.
There are two sex offenders living near me (like 2-3 blocks away). One SA’d an 8 y/o girl and the other was in possession of child porn. It’s crazy how these people are able to live out in the world after committing such atrocities. As a teenage girl, I find it pretty frightening to live so close to them.
This reminds me... I was just watching the movie "The Last of Sheila", and one character it turns out is a child molester, but everyone else basically ignores it, and considers it on par with shoplifting or being an alcoholic... I found it very odd.
Idk how sex against children is worse than mass murder
I think most people have felt angry enough to feel like they want to murder someone. It's more relatable. Most people don't think about kids like that. It's the ultimate selfish act. So fucking lost in a self serving fantasy with no regard to the damage it causes. I believe those people are incapable of recovering.
Objectively speaking, mass murder is worse. Subjectively, we’re all kinda desensitized to murder, but very much not desensitized to sex crimes or child-target crimes, so those feel more morally wrong to us.
I agree with this in a weird way. Logically, it makes sense. Mass murder. Is a lot of lives lost. Compared to one life ruined. But i think what the person above said comes into play here. I understand it more than i do sex crimes against children. That seems so far out of any reality i exist in. As in, i dont understand it at all in any way. But mass murders kinda make sense ? But at the same time, we assume they have done it more than once, which is true for a lot of predators.
If you realize that people can only live once murder seems a lot worse. You're taking everything away. Victims of sex crimes can recover and still be able to live happy
That takes effort to comprehend, so most people wouldn’t bother thinking of that. Which is not necessarily an insult, just an observation of humanity’s general preference for energy conservation.
The victim of a murder is dead. The victim of a sexual assault has to live with what’s happened to them for the rest of their life, and the perpetrator (statistically) is very likely to reoffend. I feel like this makes it worse.
Consider, however, that the murder victim’s friends and family will be traumatized as well. I’m unsure how sa trauma compares to ‘my friend/son/etc was murdered’ trauma, but there’s more people experiencing the latter, so I feel like one murder has overall more bad effects than one sexual assault.
I'm not sure he's saying the penalty should be different.
Iono killing people is something I can comprehend but sex crimes against children is just incomprehensible to me. Feels so wrong even though I know murdering a bunch of people is also wrong.
killing people is incoomprehensible to me. i can understand sex crimes against children. some people have extremely messed up brains that leads to them doing sex crimes against children
Yeah and that’s fine, we’re allowed to have different feelings towards different crimes. People are just telling you how they feel against sex crimes against children, it’s very incomprehensible to many
Eh, everybody dies and very few do so voluntarily. Mass murder is just a more expedient way of achieving the same result. Now here’s a real crime: throwing paper towels in the toilet when there are signs everywhere telling you not to. That’s some vile stuff.
mass murder is not the crime of a single person, but of a group, which is separate from the question asked
Murder of children. Wayne Williams like
Rape
Hurting kids and animals.
I mean if you eat meat you're supporting the killing of amimals. How is hurting them worse?
I have thought about this for years. I guess all that I would ask for would be humane treatment while they are alive, it would not be realistic to think that people would not eat meat.
It's generally considered poor form in hunting to not be as quick and efficient as possible. A clean shot to the deer's heart/lungs is ideal, anywhere else where the creature has a chance to run off and bleed to death reflects badly on you. Hunters have more respect for game than you give them credit for.
Oh, I think that hunters get their meat ‘honestly’, not wrapped in a package at the store. I know what you mean about being a responsible hunter, and how proper hunters don’t think much of yahoos. For a fact, hunters have saved more habitat than anyone generally knows. It’s a win/win, in a weird way.
Definitely rape, especially of a child, but also in general.
Murder worse than rape
Depending on the situation, dealing with the trauma after rape can be so arduous that one may say otherwise. I’d much rather be simply murdered than live through what Junko Furuta endured.
yea being raped tortured and murdered is worse than just being murdered?
I mean maybe. Depends. Murder could have been in self-defense. There is literally never a valid reason to rape somebody. EDIT: Forgive me for not knowing the nuances of the legal terms for having killed somebody under various circumstances --- not something I often think about.
Murder can not be in self defence.
Murder as self defense is considered self defense not murder. There's also no valid reason to murder someone
It’s considered a justifiable homicide.
Kind of a toss up for me. Sex crimes against children, genocide, torture. Sex crimes in general are terrible. But since we're talking "worst".... I'd rather die quickly and painlessly rather than slowly and painfully.
Mass genocide.
This is the correct answer
I agree - but the term "genocide" is overused.
Not really. It’s a nuanced word, can be a cultural genocide or literal mass systematic murder, both are genocide
Exploding a planet with a giant space station the size of a moon.
Historically, piracy was/is up there. Pirates are known as *hostis humani generis* — the enemies of all mankind.
Murder with aggravating factors like it being a hate or sex crime.
Great phrase I heard one time: "The tyranny of the strong over the weak." Any time a strong person takes advantage of a weaker person, they should get an ass whoopin'.
And who is gonna deliver said whoopin? Seems to me you need someone stronger than the original, and we’re back at square one.
three weak ones could do it, problem solved
Def pedifiles string em up
Murder. Assaulting animals or children. Rape. I’m not putting those three in order. They’re all equally bad. Oh, and trafficking of any kind.
>They’re all equally bad. They really aren't. I'd much rather someone kicked a puppy than killed someone.
I think they’re all equally bad.
I kicked a puppy do I deserve life in prison?
You’re arguing about how someone feels, and that’s pointless. Would you get the same legal sentence? No. Would I do the same thing to you as I would a murderer if I wouldn’t face any punishment? Yes. You’re trying to argue feelings and that just doesn’t work.
ok so youre saying you would do the same things to me if i kicked a puppy and if i murdered someone?
… that’s what I said.
You deserve some level of punishment. You assaulted another living being.
But you think it's equally as bad as murder
Even with murder, you sometimes won’t get life in prison. So, that point is moot. It’s wrong, period. It’s all equally wrong. But, depending on other circumstances the punishment will vary.
Idk but I would not want to be a Jew or a Germanic person after some pissed off Romans rolled into town
From a moral perspective, we’ve got some great answers in the comments already: perfidy(degradation of trust in humanity), rape, rape of children, human trafficking, animal abuse, taking advantage of mentally disabled, etc. From an objective perspective(oxymoron?), that guy who said the destruction of Alderaan by the Death Star. That is far greater than even *genocide*, as that refers to only thethe elimination of a racial/political/cultural group, but the Death Star caused the annihilation of *countless species*. Google actually has a name for it: Omnicide.
Boy, all these comments are sure something. Enough Reddit for me today.
Against another person? Rape. Against a friend? Absolute betrayal. Against someones family? Murder. Against their country? Treason. Against the world? Genocide/Nuclear Holocaust.
Murder, torture, rape.
Causing irreversible locked-in syndrome to someone on purpose. I think this is even worse than crimes against children. Deliberately causing someone's body to become a prison, without hope of ever being able to even communicate from that condition with the outside world, and having no hope of it ever being cured or removed until you die of natural causes... Beyond horrific, monstrous and hideous.
Abusing children and animals
Animal abuse.
Wearing white after labour day, designing and manufacturing of the fiat multipla and wearing socks with sandals. Rape, murder and torture are also bad
Perfidy, or specifically whenever you're using the appearance of good faith/innocence to nefarious ends. Hiding weapons in schools, faking surrender, targeting medical personnel mid-treatment, suicide bombing food/medical convoys guised as a civilian, there's a lot of ways it manifests. But the reason I consider it the worst is because it erodes the last bastion of decency in times of conflict: trust in good will. So not only do you cause more immediate suffering, but you cause a general degradation of decency and escalate ongoing suffering for all parties involved, they're not going to trust that you're really a civilian anymore, or that you're really trying to surrender, or that the school is really just a school, and it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
A lot of people are mentioning crimes involving children, I would like to include the elderly and those with disabilities
Regicide
Reggie is a sweet dude. Why would anyone want to kill him?
Judging by the driving subs on here. Speeding. And Poor lane discipline.
Crimes against those who are the most vulnerable and can't defend themselves, such as infants, children, the elderly, and profoundly disabled people that rely on others for protection
Locking people in a room filled with mustard gas.
Why are you commenting this on every reply that doesn’t agree with your own view? That’s not how opinions work.
Eating a grilled cheese sandwich without ketchup.
Child murder, accompanied by drawn out fear and suffering, is the worst I could imagine.
sex crimes they should get their wees removed for that. And their nuts too. So they can never even have the possibility or hurting someone or getting pleasure ever again.
Lying about crimes. It's a double betrayal. To the innocent person blamed and to any future victims of that type of crime as they will be believed less. The worst is these are very rarely prosecuted.
This is going to maybe sound counter because many may think murder or many of the horrifically violent crimes and I agree they are bad. However I would say abandoning your child. I am not at all referring to those who put a child up for adoption. That is not abandonment that is seeking someone who can care for your kid if you can not. I am also not just talking about people who leave their spouse to take care of their kid alone. However I would include in this people who quiet quit as parents. They neglect their kids or fail to guide them as they grow or provide for them. Abandoning a child not only can destroy that child's self esteem but it erodes the fabric of society and causes chain reactions where public health, safety and even economic impacts for many generations are felt by all of society. That child could be irreversibly damaged or at least struggle so much in interpersonal relationships that they themselves cause damage to those around them as they struggle to fill in the gaps that that parent left. These children could even turn to crime because they have a skewed sense of morality or lost respect for social constructs, law and order. They may turn to drugs to try to heal the pain. Sometimes they are also abusive to their spouses and kids and may themselves abandon their kids continuing the cycle. To further illustrate how this affects our society about 70% of teens locked up in state juvenile detention facilities are from single parent homes. About 70% of teen gang members, school dropouts, teen suicide, teen pregnancy and teen drug users come from single parent homes. For fatherless homes they are 279% more likely to carry guns and deal drugs Abandoning a child places an enormous burden on the child and society and it erodes the quality of life of that child and the quality of our society. The damage that it causes is immeasurable and a lot of the answers to this question will often find their roots in child abandonment. Source for stats: [https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/fact-sheet-fatherhood-and-crime](https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/fact-sheet-fatherhood-and-crime)
Rape (I include pedophilia in this) Animal cruelty I do believe in justifiable homicide so I'm not just blanketly including "murder"
That woman who stabbed that baby to death right in front of his mother for no reason at all.
Anything that causes deliberate suffering and death for many people.
rape for sure, the lasting effects can ruin not just the victims life but others as well
So surprised that so many people think being murdered isn’t the worst thing that could happen to you… being killed it’s final. There are no second chances. At least with other crimes there is some hope you can be ok again.
In terms of raw destruction, genocide. In terms of heinousness on an individual level, rape and the exploitation of children.
Murder. You only get one life and to have it taken from you against your will negates all agency. Sex crimes and such, especially against children, are definitely bad, but you can recover from them and go on to live a long, reasonably well-adjusted life.
Crimes against children and animals. Exploiting youth and innocence is despicable. Especially since they are unable to do anything to help themselves.
'the worst' would just be some total accumulation of bad things. Like, it's worse to kill two people than it is one. Thinking about this had my brain form a knot around the idea that someone exterminating all of humanity wouldn't technically be a crime though since there'd be no one left to deem it a crime. So I guess the answer is 'killing all people except 2': the perp and the judge.
Terraforming a planet that already has life on it of any sort. It's genocide on a massive scale.
Fuck the moss bro
Dropping a 2000 lb bomb on an apartment building full of women and children might be up there.
So, war crimes? Mass murder?
Thinking specifically the Jabalia airstrike.
Yeah, that’s really bad. Some people mentioned perfidy too. That’s pretty bad too. I would definitely add those to the list. Honestly, there is no such thing as the “worst crime”. All of these examples are horrible. But, we’re not the ones deciding who gets away with this and what level of punishment these criminals get.
I mean, Saddam gassing the Kurds with mustard and nerve agents killed about 5000 people.
Blind xenocide. Then cops running red lights when there isn't an emergency.
Rape
Anything that impacts the wellbeing of a child. This includes teenagers.
You know i can sometimes respect criminals, but never someone who commit crimes against children or people with disabilities
Oh, damn I totally forgot about assaulting people with disabilities and the elderly. I mentioned kids in my answer. But, totally spaced on PWDs and the elderly.
Genocide, followed by torture/crimes against children, followed by animal abuse
I might have thought murder, before. Since Trump and Republicans, and their ongoing insurrection, forcing a family to flee their state for their ten year old to have an abortion, which, of course, was the result of rape, 26,000 women and girls, in Texas, alone, forced to carry pregnancies which are the result of rape, since Roe versus Wade was overturned, hundreds of mass shootings, because Republicans refuse to vote to ban assault weapons, Republicans denying weapons to Ukraine for six months, as Russia continues to slaughter innocent Ukrainians-- I'll say that overturning American Democracy is one of the worst crimes in history.