"leading culprit" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It can be used to describe someone or something that is considered to be the main or most responsible reason for a certain situation or problem. Example: The leading culprit for the increase in pollution levels is the excessive use of fossil fuels.
A leading culprit is climate change.
Keratitis from chemical burns, particularly burns from acids and alkalis, is a leading culprit.
In this extremely well-written book, Coronil composes a convincing indictment of oil as a leading culprit responsible for the travails of modern Venezuela.
Ultimately, Taubes's indictment of sugar as the leading culprit in virtually all modern Western maladies doesn't provide enough evidence for us to convict.
If people see the stand-your-ground law as a leading culprit in the Zimmerman acquittal and want to change it, they need to turn out and vote in 2014.
Others said they were pleased that Mr. Obama had called for overhauling Social Security, even if he was vague and said it was not a leading culprit for the deficit.
Once again, Favre was one of the leading culprits.
In Minnesota, the leading culprits are brain worms and liver flukes.
A word of warning though: as rice is one of the leading culprits of food poisoning, don't try to reheat your lunch in the office microwave.
That was one of the reasons why IBM's mainframes and Digital Equipment's minicomputers had such a reputation for reliability.Readers had no trouble identifying the two leading culprits.
"It is a scar which will remain with us for the rest of our lives," said the striker, Fred, a leading candidate on the 2014 shortlist, who may well never play for Brazil again".We will never be able to find the words to explain this situation," said Fernandinho, one of the leading culprits in midfield.
