a life of crime

[panicmonger]

Hello, Merry Christmas to all.
a life of crime.
Could you give me some handy hints about the phrase above?
I totally don't understand its meaning.
Thank you.

 

[billmcd]

Hello, Merry Christmas to all.
a life of crime.
Could you give me some handy hints about the phrase above?
I totally don't understand its meaning.
Thank you.

Context would help, but the phrase is sometimes used to describe a person who has been in trouble with law enforcement for much of his/her life.

 

[phrasemix]

When someone starts committing crimes, they usually continue to do so for long periods.

This is sometimes used in the expressions "turn to a life of crime" or "fall into a life of crime", which mean to start committing crimes.

Here are some examples:

Without the army, he says he would've fallen into a life of crime.

But the center argued in state appeals court that the shooting sent the boy into a downward spiral into a life of crime, ending with the murder of Eva May.
​

 

[Ouisch]

An example:

Charles Manson was born to an alcoholic single mother who once offered to swap him for a pitcher of beer when she was short of cash. He spent most of his youth in various "boys schools" where he associated with youngsters who'd been sent there for various crimes. Charlie was only 12 years old when he committed his first armed robbery. From then on, his was a life of crime - he never held a regular or legitimate job, he simply drifted in and out of various prisons for crimes ranging from grand theft auto to mail fraud to pandering. Upon his conviction in the Tate-LaBianca murders, Manson commented that he'd been raised in the jailhouse, and that he didn't know anything other than crime.