What does criminalise mean?
To criminalise is to make an activity illegal — to transform conduct that was previously lawful into a crime, usually by passing legislation that attaches criminal penalties to it. A parliament might criminalise the possession of a new drug, or a state might criminalise the feeding of stray animals, thereby exposing anyone who continues the practice to arrest and prosecution. The word also carries a broader, more figurative sense: to criminalise someone can mean treating them as if they were a criminal, as when critics complain that harsh laws 'criminalise poverty' or 'criminalise protest'. The term belongs chiefly to formal registers — legal texts, policy papers, and serious journalism — and its use almost always signals a debate about where society should draw the line between freedom and punishment. Because it describes the deliberate expansion of the criminal law rather than any specific offence, it is central to discussions of morality, public order, and state power.
To make an activity or form of behaviour illegal under criminal law.
"The new statute criminalises the distribution of counterfeit medicines."
Usually takes an activity or practice as its object rather than a person.
To treat or portray a person or group as criminals, especially unjustly.
"Advocates said the bylaw criminalised rough sleepers for simply having nowhere to go."
When a country criminalises something overnight, millions of otherwise law-abiding people can become criminals with the stroke of a pen.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of criminalise
Criminalise derives from the noun 'criminal', which traces back through Middle French and Old French to the Latin adjective 'criminalis', meaning relating to a crime, itself formed from 'crimen' (charge, accusation, crime). The suffix '-ise' reflects the standard British verb-forming ending, corresponding to the Greek-derived '-ize'. The word emerged in English legal and political writing in the nineteenth century as legislatures increasingly debated which behaviours to bring under criminal law. Its relatives include 'criminology', 'incriminate', and 'recrimination', all built on the same Latin root 'crimen'.
Related word forms
How criminalise is actually used
Formal register, most often found in legal, political, and journalistic writing. The second sense — treating people as criminals — frequently carries critical or disapproving connotations, as in debates about 'criminalising homelessness'. In American English the spelling is criminalize with a z; in British English both spellings appear, but criminalise is traditional.
Easily confused with criminalise
Decriminalize means to remove criminal penalties from an activity, the exact opposite of criminalise, which makes an activity punishable as a crime.