Convict
A
convict is a person that has been
convicted of a
crime. They generally become some sort of
prisoner after a conviction. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial
sentences usually are not termed "convicts."
A particular use of the term in the English-speaking world is to refer to the huge numbers of petty criminals which clogged British
gaols in the 18th and early 19th century. Initially many were sent to the American colonies as cheap labour, but the
War of Independence brought that solution to an end.
British convicts were not transported to the
Province of Georgia between 1733 and the
American revolution. After this, convicts could no longer be transported to America and Britain looked to the newly discovered east coast of Australia to use as a penal colony. Convicts were transported to
Australia in
1788 from the very start of European settlement and were used as labourers in five out of the six major colonies. Transportation was eventually abolished in
1868. In Australia, convicts have come to be key figures of social and cultural
mythology and
historiography. British convicts were also sent to
Canada,
India, and
New Zealand.
France also sent convicts to
French Guiana and
New Caledonia.
Russian criminals that were shipped to
Siberia can arguably be regarded as convicts.
*
Convictism in Australia*
Penal transportation*
Convict lease
