Outlaws, or bandits, were considered as “outside the law”. When they were arrested and judged, they were therefore considered as having no rights to use legal proceedings, especially to defend themselves. They were usually sternly punished.

The word outlaw was particularly used during the 19th century, in the Far West, when outlaws were the most numerous. Indeed, at that time, there was no real police force to arrest them, only some sheriffs here and there. Those outlaws usually stole cattle, horses, and robbed banks. Butch Cassidy, who cracked down several years in the US, without being arrested by the police, is probably one of the most famous US outlaws of all times.

As there was no federal police at that time, the first detective agency in the US, that of Pinkerton, who was in charge of hunting outlaws. Allan Pinkerton, who created the agency with the same name, foiled a scheme aiming at killing president Lincoln in 1861. This is how he became particularly famous.

But women were also in! You may have heard of Ma Barker. This woman, born in 1873, and who died in 1935, was the mother of three outlaws, her sons being specialized in robbery, kidnapping, and crimes between 1900 and 1950. Even though the legend says that she was the mastermind, there is no possibility of such a thing. She obviously knew what they did, but only followed them and helped them when they needed her. What the hey, she was a mother after all!