Editing Convict (section)

{{short description|Person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court}}
{{about|the term "convict" when applied to an individual||Convict (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2020}}

A '''convict''' is "a person found [[Guilt (law)|guilty]] of a [[crime]] and [[Sentence (law)|sentence]]d by a [[court]]" or "a person serving a sentence in [[prison]]".<ref>Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, p. 311 (2d Coll. Ed. 1978).</ref> Convicts are often also known as "[[prisoner]]s" or "inmates" or by the [[slang]] term "con",<ref>Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, p. 292 (2d Coll. Ed. 1978).</ref> while a common [[Label (sociology)|label]] for former convicts, especially those recently released from prison, is "'''ex-con'''" ("'''ex-convict'''"). Persons convicted and sentenced to [[Community sentence|non-custodial sentence]]s tend not to be described as "convicts".

The label of "ex-convict" usually has lifelong implications, such as [[social stigma]] or reduced opportunities for employment. The [[Government of Australia|federal government of Australia]], for instance, will not, in general, employ an ex-convict, while some [[States and territories of Australia|state and territory]] governments may limit the time for or before which a former convict may be employed.{{cn|date=December 2014}}