Several parts combine into one character.

罪 is a compound ideograph: 罒 (the "net" radical, depicting a horizontal capture-net) + 非 (fēi, "wrong / not"). The composite reads as "what is captured in the net of law and revealed as wrong" = crime, sin, transgression. The character preserves an entire judicial worldview: wrongdoing is conceived as something hidden that the law must capture and expose, like fish caught in a net. The 罒 radical anchors a small justice-related family: 罪 (crime), 罰 (punishment), 罷 (dismiss), 署 (office).

Korean reading "joe." 犯罪 (beomjoe, crime — universal Korean legal vocabulary), 罪人 (joein, criminal / sinner — also Christian Korean for "sinner"), 罪悪感 (joeak-gam, "crime-evil-feeling" = sense of guilt), 無罪 (mujoe, innocent / not guilty — legal verdict), 有罪 (yujoe, guilty — legal verdict), 原罪 (wonjoe, "original sin" — Christian theological term). Korean legal procedural drama uses 죄 vocabulary constantly.

Mandarin zuì, 4th tone. 罪 (zuì), 罪犯 (zuìfàn, criminal), 犯罪 (fànzuì, "to commit a crime" — both noun and verb), 有罪 (yǒuzuì, guilty), 罪过 (zuìguò, "fault / sin" — used in apologetic phrases). Modern Mandarin legal vocabulary depends entirely on 罪.

Japanese on-reading ザイ (zai) — 罪人 (zainin, criminal — note this is also the Buddhist term for "sinner / one burdened with sin"), 犯罪 (hanzai, crime), 無罪 (muzai, not guilty), 有罪 (yūzai, guilty). Kun-reading つみ (tsumi) — 罪 (tsumi, sin / crime — used in both legal and religious contexts), 罪深い (tsumibukai, "deeply sinful"). The Japanese title of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is 罪と罰 (Tsumi to Batsu) — a universally recognized literary title in Japan. Japanese moral discourse distinguishes 罪 (tsumi, internal sin / personal moral failing) from 罰 (batsu, external punishment / consequence) more sharply than Western "sin" / "punishment" do.

Memory aid: 罒 (capture net) + 非 (wrong) — the wrongness caught and revealed by the law's net = crime.