Also known as: turpitude · crimes involving moral turpitude · CIMT
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct contrary to justice, honesty, or morality, characterized by baseness or vileness that shocks the moral sense of the community.
Maurice Marshall stood on a crowded commuter train and loudly accused rival driver Musa Mensah of having been arrested for driving drunk with children aboard. The statement imputed a serious criminal offense regarded by public opinion as involving moral turpitude. Because the words were published to third parties and met the criteria for slander per se, Mensah could recover without proving special harm.
Musa Mensah had twice been convicted of felonies involving moral turpitude and then committed a third such offense in Oklahoma. The state sought to apply its habitual criminal sterilization statute to him. The law targeted those whose repeated base conduct demonstrated unfitness to procreate under the state's eugenics policy.
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Mason McCarthy, a noncitizen, faced criminal charges carrying potential deportation. His lawyer failed to warn him that a conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude would trigger removal proceedings. The omission exposed McCarthy to automatic immigration consequences he could not have anticipated.
Meredith Maxwell sought entry to the United States but had a prior conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude. Federal law rendered her inadmissible on that ground. The restriction operated as a categorical bar regardless of her current circumstances or rehabilitation.
Marco Marquez was stopped by officers who suspected him of possessing narcotics. The suspicion rested in part on his prior conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude. That history contributed to the reasonable suspicion analysis supporting the frisk.
Melissa Mills challenged the prosecutor's use of peremptory strikes against jurors with prior convictions involving moral turpitude. The strikes were alleged to rest on stereotypes rather than case-specific reasons. The court examined whether the pattern revealed purposeful discrimination in jury selection.
A crime involves moral turpitude when it is regarded by public opinion as reflecting inherent baseness or vileness rather than a minor or technical violation. The Restatement focuses on whether the imputed offense would be viewed that way in the place of publication. Not every criminal accusation qualifies. Trivial assaults ordinarily do not.
A conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude supplies strong evidence that the lawyer committed an act reflecting adversely on honesty or fitness to practice. Discipline authorities examine whether the conduct demonstrates unfitness even if it occurred outside client representation. Not every criminal conviction meets this threshold.
Moral turpitude identifies a subset of offenses that carry heightened immigration consequences such as inadmissibility or deportability. The category captures crimes reflecting dishonesty or baseness rather than all felonies. Courts look to the nature of the act rather than the statutory label alone.
When both parties know of and facilitate an illegal purpose involving serious moral turpitude the contract is void and unenforceable. Lesser moral turpitude may render the agreement voidable only by the innocent party. The distinction turns on the degree of blameworthiness attached to the purpose.
…many crimes enumerated in the statute is inadmissible and therefore ineligible to receive a visa. See §1182(a)(2)(A) (crime of moral turpitude or drug offense); §1182(a)(2)(C) (drug trafficking or benefiting from a relative who recently trafficked drugs); §1182(a)(2)(D) (prostitution or “unlawful commercialized vice”);…