Civil death is a term that refers to the loss of all or almost all civil rights by a person due to a conviction for a felony or due to an act by the government of a country that results in the loss of civil rights. Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... A felony, in many common law legal systems, is the term for a very serious crime; misdemeanors are considered to be less serious. ...

A prominent example of civil death is the "illegal enemy combatant" designation used by the United States government, which is sometimes argued to violate the due process rights of designated individuals. A second example of civil death on a wide scale is the use of purges by the former Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. Unlawful combatant (also illegal combatant or unprivileged combatant) describes a person who engages in combat without meeting the requirements for a lawful combatant according to the laws of war as specified in the Third Geneva Convention. ... Due process of law is a legal concept that ensures the government will respect all of a persons legal rights instead of just some or most of those legal rights, when the government deprives a person of life, liberty, or property. ... The Great Purge is the name given to campaigns of repression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s which included a purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ...

Historically, the declaration of a person as an outlaw was a common form of civil death. Butch Cassidy, a famous outlaw An outlaw, a person living the lifestyle of outlawry, is most familiar to contemporary readers as a stock character in Western movies. ...