CONVICT, a term of somewhat loose signification technically applicable to anyone who has been adjudged guilty of a criminal offence by a court of competent jurisdiction. Specifically and in common parlance it is confined to one who has been convicted of what is known in England as an "indictable offence," i.e., one triable by jury, and, in the United States, of an offence involving moral turpitude, usually punishable by death or by confinement in a State prison. It is not the plea of guilty nor the verdict of the jury that fixes the status of the culprit as a convict—the one may be rejected or the other set aside by the court—but the judg ment of the court, and the same consequence follows whether punishment is imposed or sentence suspended. The status of con vict thus created is put an end to by a reversal of the judgment, by an unqualified pardon or by the completion of the sentence that may have been imposed on the offender.
Apart from the punishment specifically imposed on him the con vict incurs other incidental but heavy disabilities. Far the worst of these is the social stigma which attaches to him from the mo ment of his conviction and which, in the vast majority of cases, practically involves a species of outlawry for life from the law abiding community. But the legal disabilities incurred are scarcely less onerous. By the English common law, if convicted of a fel ony—and most criminal offences were felonies punishable by death—the convict became civilly dead, his estate was forfeited to the Crown and he suffered "corruption of blood," with the result that he could neither inherit nor transmit property. Forfeiture of estate was abolished in England by Act of parliament in 187o and, while nominally in effect, was never exacted in the English colonies in America.
In the United States to-day, in the same way as in England, the convict sentenced to a State or convict prison loses all his civil rights during the period for which he was sentenced. This loss or suspension of civil rights does not, however, place the con vict outside the pale of the law. To kill him without warrant is murder and the person who assaults or robs him is no less ame nable to the law of the land than he would be if the victim of the act had been a free citizen. So the prisoner may be sued and in most States may sue and bind himself by contract, may grant or devise real or personal property, and may be a witness in a civil or criminal action. Everywhere, however, the sentence or the judgment of conviction disqualifies the convict from holding public office, from serving as a juror and from exercising the elective franchise. These disabilities continue, even in the event of a parole or conditional release, until his status as a convict has been re moved. (See CRIMINAL LAW ; CRIMINOLOGY ; JUVENILE OFFEND ERS ; PRISON.) (G. W Kr)