Criminal is a popular term used for a person who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime.
Criminal also means being connected with a crime. When certain acts or people are involved in or related to a crime, they are termed as criminal. For example: “criminal conspiracy,” “criminal taking,” a “criminal gang.”
Some common uses of the term criminal in a legal sense include:
- “Criminal law” is a system of law dealing with law cases involving a crime.
- “Criminal case” involves the government attempting on behalf of its citizens to punish a person for violating its criminal law.
- “Criminal procedure” is the term used for the rules used by a court as it conducts a criminal case from its inception through a trial.
[Last updated in June of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]