Quote:
Originally posted by Mouse:
I would ratchet the whole thing back. As soon as you have committed a crime you're a criminal. Whether you have been caught/convicted/punished by the state is immaterial. That's just adding official recognition post facto.
It's like being HIV positive. As soon as you have the virus, that's your status. The test only confirms it.
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Agreed but unlike a virus, a crime is a subjective thing. Subject to the authority that desides what is and isn't a crime, and if that authority has the power and will to project it's authority. If no law is broken it is not a crime. Was Ghengis Khan a criminal? By our modern standards, most would say yes, by the standards of those in authority (namely him), to deside if he was not a criminal, the answer is no.