The phrase "a crippling effect on" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a significant negative impact or influence that severely hinders or damages something.
Example: "The economic downturn had a crippling effect on small businesses, leading to many closures."
Alternatives: "a devastating impact on" or "a debilitating influence on".
The arrest of Mr. Gourlay signals a new front in the government's response to the revelation that minors have been using Webcams to run their own child pornography Web sites, one that could have a crippling effect on this once-burgeoning business.
It is possible that one of the reasons Miranda has not had a crippling effect on law enforcement is that the Supreme Court has created numerous exceptions to the holding.
A criminal conviction can have a crippling effect on an individual's economic mobility.
The advent of the Kennedy Administration had a crippling effect on him, from which he has never fully recovered.
Austerity will have a crippling effect on the majority while those at the top are carefully insulated.
The cuts are evenly divided between defense and nondefense programs, with analysts predicting a crippling effect on all affected departments and agencies.
Although CNet, the Internet media company, declined to comment yesterday, its network service provider reported detecting an attack on the company's sites Tuesday afternoon but said it had managed to prevent any crippling effect on users.
When you are repeatedly told by those protected by the president and his government that you are a lesser being and are hated, it can have a crippling effect, physically, on your brain, mind and heart.
The result has had a somewhat crippling effect on a few of the larger wood manufacturers in the core market.
Mr. Kartagener said the count, in effect, suggested that it was illegal for a police officer to miss his target while shooting, an argument that would have "a potentially crippling effect on law enforcement".
In the rare instance where additional investment in a particular area is made, such expansion is only achievable at a very real and potentially crippling effect on other departments, as was recently the case in the Province of Alberta.
