Bandits And Outlaws

When I hear the words ‘bandits and outlaws’ I immediately think of men on horses running towards a train and robbing it. Or many a sandy piece of paper with the words ‘WANTED’ on it. I guess this is because these words are no longer used to describe criminals today. Bandits and outlaws are usually people who are on the run indefinitely and commit crime after crime without getting caught. Sometimes they are said to be standing up for the little guy too. Lets take Robin Hood for example. He stole from the rich to give to the poor. Now I never really think of Robin Hood as a bandit or outlaw because he is such a well know figure today, but he was. Everyone knows who Robin Hood is though and he is thought of as the good guy. Someone I didn’t know that well was Jesse James. I’d heard his name and saw films with his name in the TV guide without actually watching them, but I never really knew anything about him. Just the fact he was a bandit/outlaw. In the lesson I learned he was a popular American outlaw with a social conscience, he was a bank/train robber and he had the image of standing up for the little guy. He was not a product of the Wild West, he didn’t come from a poor family and he was quite political. I think people like Robin Hood, who did bad things for good reasons, do have a danger of glamorising criminal behaviour. I guess it depends how bad the thing is that the person is doing to help the poor. Stealing is very different from killing for example. Villains become heroes when they do something the public approve of. This shows it is possible for a bad guy to be a good guy if he has the right intentions.
Heres a great link for info about bandits and outlaws - http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-Outlaws.html