These words pertain to people, usually men, who live outside society and its laws. Renegade originally applied to a Christian who converted to Islam and more generally to any religious or even political apostate. Some of these general uses are still met with: a renegade priest who left the church to marry. But Western fiction and films have popularized the term to apply to any fugitive or lawbreaker, particularly to someone, such as a member of a band of robbers, who lives outside or on the periphery of respectable society: the final scene in which the good guys shoot it out with the renegades . Now, the word can apply most generally to any member of a sub-culture of thieves or delinquents: a section of the city frequented by rogues and renegades . If the reference is to a young person, the word may imply that he has run away from home: renegade youths who gather in low-class dives and sleep in sleazy rooming-houses.

Desperado refers most specifically to a bandit of the U.S. West or South-West in frontier days; again, Westerns have popularized the term, but it has fewer general uses applying to other situations: the villains of the film were a band of desperadoes who hid out in a cave near the town. Outlaw can also apply within the context of the Western, much like desperado or renegade , but it has a much wider areas of relevance than either of these, applying to any habitual lawbreaker, especially one who totally rejects the standards of society as a guide to conduct: the Chicago of the twenties – a city completely controlled by outlaws who raked off millions from various kinds of racketeering. The more common use of the word, however, emphasizes that the lawbreaker is fleeing the law and has been deprived of its protection because of his crime: an outlaw with a price on his head.

The remaining words have no particular relevance to the Western genre. Closely related to outlaw , criminal is the most general word here, referring to any hardened lawbreaker, whether he acts alone or in concert with others. Usually the word suggests someone guilty of serious and repeated offences, whether or not he has been apprehended or punished for his crimes: to be declared a habitual criminal ; a small-time criminal who stole cars to support his drug addiction. Sometimes the word can be a substitute for convict or ex-convict, applying to someone who is or has been imprisoned for a serious crimes: criminals who return to their old haunts upon parole.

Crook is an informal word for criminal , and implies membership in a gang or a criminal who works alone. It can suggest the use of deceit to fleece or defraud unsuspecting people, but, at its most general, it can apply to anyone involved in any form of crime: crooks who ran an organized shop-lifting racket; The cashier was a crook who had embezzled thousands of dollars from the firm. Racketeer refers in a general way to anyone who makes his living by shady or unlawful means. Racketeering usually suggests big-time, organized crime rather than petty law-breaking, and depends for its success largely on the participation of the public, as in S.P. betting, drug peddling, gambling, etc.: The racketeer faced the court on seven charges, of which extortion was the least serious. Gangster , mobster and gunman all imply membership in a gang whose activities are violent in nature, but the words overlap in meaning so that one or all of them can apply to the same person. A mobster is generally a gang or mob leader, although he may be simply a member. Gangster can refer to any member of a gang; more than criminal , it suggests violence and ruthlessness: a gangster who would shoot his best friend if it suited his purpose. The word is occasionally used to describe people who are brutal in their disregard for the rights of others: gangsters of the Hitler régime. Gunman is self-explanatory, denoting a vicious member of the underworld noted for his ready use of firearms. He is usually a gang member who is allotted the specific task of threatening or killing victims: They were forced to remain in the room under the surveillance of a trigger-happy gunman .

Hoodlum at its most specific suggests the bodyguards or toughs who surround the leader of a gang. Where other words here carry on implications about age, hoodlum often suggests a brutal or coarse young man: The mobster assigned a dozen hoodlums to intimidate small shopkeepers. In extended uses, hoodlum can apply to young men who belong to no organized gang but who, as small-time criminals , indulge in spontaneous acts of violence: a bunch of hoodlums who began wrecking the hamburger café out of sheer boredom. Hood , a shortened form, suggests even more clearly young delinquents who are anarchic and lawless in their behaviour: local hoods standing along the footpath flipping coins and trying to look tough. Thug comes from the Hindi word for thief and originally referred to professional robbers in India who murdered their victims by strangulation. Now it can serve as an intensification of hoodlum in reference to burly, lower-echelon members of a gang who are coarse and brutal and who may be paid to assault or kill designated victims: an informer who had been murdered by one of the gang’s thugs .

Sociopath is a recent term used to describe a mentally disturbed person, usually a young man, whose psychosis takes the form of hideous acts of gratuitous violence. Theoretically, a sociopath has failed to develop into a human being and cannot understand, emotionally or intellectually, human affection, compassion or suffering: a growing number of sociopath who, without warning, go on killing sprees for no apparent reason.