Can Creator share the divine perspective on the statement, “Everybody does it?” Does “following the crowd” ever confer karmic leniency in any way? How much, if any, consideration does Creator give to this when considering mitigating grace?

This holds little value as a mitigating factor. If anything, it is a symptom of lack of maturity, lack of inner development, and a weak character that one is simply following the leader and surrendering their own moral qualms in favoring being accepted by the fellow transgressors. What is happening is they are essentially making a selfish choice to look good and to not go against the crowd so they continue to fit in, in service to their ego and their sense of security, or even superiority in knowing they will become a valuable member of the clan, so to speak, by picking up the cause wholeheartedly and doing their part even in the commission of a crime. So there is always a selfish element when such things happen because if the person is looking at the big picture, they will simply not weigh their own personal gain as of greater importance than preventing, or at least not participating in, the harming of someone a group is bent on bringing about. It is when people are closed off from their higher faculties, meaning their divine connection to higher self and beyond, that they will be insensitive to others and only looking out for themselves, and it is under such circumstances when the acceptance of their peers outweighs their own moral values to refrain from wrongdoing. And when this happens, it is a symptom of a deeper problem, one of disconnection from one’s own divinity, and that is the only way someone will see improper conduct as an appropriate choice for themselves to engage in because they will see, with some sensitivity for a potential victim, that it will harm them too, if only making them feel bad that they have had a hand in causing distress to someone. And any possibility of greater acceptance by those seeking their participation will not outweigh that liability in their mind and, in fact, it may cause them to rethink things about the value of those companions and their potential negative influence. So again, the operative word here is "Having greater wisdom with respect to where one stands in terms of being in divine alignment or not."