If you break the law once are you a " criminal " for your entire life since you did commit a crime?

Question

Or is it a certain number of crimes before you get the title criminal? All I know is I've got a lot of speeding tickets and I feel like a criminal.......

Answer 1

The term "criminal" is less of definition when used in the context you're using and more of a label our society put on certain individuals. I think our society labels a person a criminal as someone with repeated an continuing criminal behavior/convictions, most being of a serious nature. I think the definition also applies to people that use their criminality as their primary form of monetary gain (ie drug dealers). Is the 20 year old kid that just got a DUI last night considered a criminal for the rest of his life? No, but the guy that just got out of prison for the second time for manufacturing meth is a lot more likely to be labled a criminal in today's society.

Answer 2

First of all, what do you mean by criminal? It could be argued that violating any federal, state or local statute, whether you are caught or not, would make you a criminal. However, I think what you are talking about is how society and law enforcement view you officially. First of all, lets break the law down into 3 groups, felonies, misdemeanors and infractions. By US legal definition, a felony is any crime punishable by more than 1 year in prison. A misdemeanor is less than one year. An infraction is something such as a speeding ticket or maybe a noise ordinance violation. Now, if you are convicted of a felony or misdemeanor as an adult (or juvenile tried and convicted as an adult), you will have a criminal record. This record will follow you the rest of your life, unless you have it expunged. Additionally, felony convictions will strip you of some of your civil rights, such as the right to vote and to possess firearms.

Something to remember is that the law is different state to state. Something that is a felony in Virginia may only be a misdemeanor in California.

Answer 3

well, i wouldnt consider you a criminal, but i agree with a little of what everyone said, like i speed sometimes, but never got any tickets thankfully, but just cause youre speeding, doesnt mean you are putting other ppl at risk, but you may be, you have to watch all that, but if you speed, and get in an accident and take someones life, you will feel like a total criminal, and have to deal with that the rest of your life

Answer 4

Usually you have to commit a very severe crime before you are formally considered as a criminal, such as murder, rape, robbery, etc. I think they class speeding tickets as infractions, so you're not considered a criminal.

Answer 5

If you're convicted of a crime, you are by definition a criminal.
Society, however, usually doesn't consider traffic violations to be very bad crimes, so people with nothing but traffic violations aren't usually considered criminals. Now, if you get a DUI...you're a criminal :)

Answer 6

Criminal Record Search Database : http://SearchVerifyInfos.com/Info

Answer 7

A criminal is someone who victimizes people.

Speeding tickets make one not a criminal. Smoking pot makes one not a criminal.

Answer 8

a criminal is someone who breaks a law. maybe you can define it as someone breaking one law, like speeding, and remaining a criminal their whole life. most wouldnt define it that way.

if you havent paid your tickets or spent the 12hrs at court going to drving class like the rest of us had toi, yeah you're a criminal.

Answer 9

Don't worry about the speeding tickets...they are not what we would call a crime ...they are just another form of taxation....
..Real criminals are the thieves, murderers, drug dealers, etc.

Answer 10

no you are not a criminal but it will be hard for you to get a job driving for any one