Civil death (Latin: civiliter mortuus)[1] is the loss of all or almost all civil rights by a person due to a conviction for a felony or due to an act by the government of a country that results in the loss of civil rights. It is usually inflicted on persons convicted of crimes against the state or adults determined by a court to be legally incompetent because of mental disability.[2]
In medieval Europe, felons lost all civil rights upon their conviction. This civil death often led to actual death, since anyone could kill and injure a felon with impunity.[3] Under the Holy Roman Empire, a person declared civilly dead was referred to as vogelfrei ('free as a bird') and could even be killed since they were completely outside the law.[4]
Historically outlawry, that is, declaring a person as an outlaw, was a common form of civil death.[4]
Under early English common law a living person could under certain conditions be considered legally dead. The three categories generally recognized as resulting in civil death were profession ("monastery death"), abjuration, and banishment.[5]
In the U.S., the disenfranchisement of felons[6] has been called a form of civil death, as has being subjected to collateral consequences in general. The contention is not generally supported by legal scholars.[7] Civil death as such remains part of the law in New York, Rhode Island, and the Virgin Islands.[8][9]
The deprivation of political rights is a supplementary punishment defined in the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China. While this punishment is usually issued for at least one but not more than five years in conjunction with other crimes, such as counterrevolution, there are situations where the deprivation of political rights can be issued on its own or for longer periods:[10]
Political rights are defined in the Criminal Law as:[11]
