This research adds to the literature on cross-cultural perceptions of the seriousness of offenses in two distinct ways. First, the perceived seriousness of 17 sanctions are measured and compared for United States, Indian, and Kuwaiti respondents. Second, the perceived seriousness of a diverse variety of 37 offenses is assessed and compared for these 3 cultures. The severity of the 17 penalty categories are comparable across cultures with rank order correlations of .98 or higher, despite the inclusion of nontraditional and unfamiliar penalties for U.S. and Indian respondents in the penalty list. The perceived seriousness of offenses is comparable for Indian and U.S. respondents while differing considerably from the Kuwaiti respondents. Most of this difference is attributable to the perceived wrongfulness of 'morals' offenses by Kuwaiti respondents. When 'morals' offenses are removed from the analysis, there is considerable agreement among respondents from the three cultures as to the seriousness of offenses. In other words, violent, property and white-collar offenses are perceived comparably as to their seriousness of wrongfulness by respondents from three very different cultures. Despite the widely divergent cultures, standards, and practices in the United States, India, and Kuwait, this research demonstrates, with the exception of 'morals' offenses, a high degree of consensus with regard to the perceived seriousness of both sanctions and offenses. (Publisher abstract)