Menninger, like all moderns, tried to express himself solely with words.  His claims about “crime” and “sin” depend precisely on his definitions.

What is the advantage of the nested form over Menninger’s defining perspective?

Allow me to illustrate by zooming from 1973 to 2012.

Consider the implications of substituting “political incorrectness” for “sin”.

Crime(political incorrectness()) is integral to the Public Cult of Progressivism.

Accusations of “political incorrectness” serve the same function as accusations of “sin” in the now-supplanted Christian culture.  They deter (political) resistance to Progressive structures of regulating virtue.

At some point, political disagreement will become criminalized as this Public Cult consolidates power.  The tipping point may have been 2008.

Like “sin”, “political incorrectness” labels actual acts, persons or situations.  “Sin” is a Christian theological term.  “Political incorrectness” stands for a wide variety of Progressive cryptotheological terms.