Abstract
Subjective scaling of crime behaviors by lay and expert persons. In this study, the method of binary comparisons has been used for the subjective scaling of 13 crimes from the current Spanish Penal Law. Two samples were used, the first one was composed of 736 people from five Spanish region (general population), and the second was composed of 141 expert persons in Law. The age of people from the general sample was between 18 and 63 years old, while in the expert sample the age was between 23 and 63 years old. The results indicated, on the one hand, that the scaling of the crimes performed by lay and expert persons depending on the seriousness perception of the crimes were not completely coincident; on the other, that in general population sample, differences in the seriousness perception of threats, sexual harassment and rape crimes were depending on the gender. The results also showed that the scaling of the crimes performed by the older men group was the most coincident with the scaling carried out by the expert persons group.
