What Does Miscreant Mean to You?

If you asked me what the word "miscreant" means, I would come up with a definition something like this:

Someone who has done something wrong, perhaps illegal, but not heinous -- definitely nothing that could be considered a capitol offense.

As a synonym I might have suggested "hooligan" -- it brings to my mind a bunch of rowdy, late-teen men, maybe vandals or graffiti taggers. But I just can't take the word hooligan seriously; it sounds too innately funny. (Yes, I know, I'm an American, so I've never encountered football hooliganism.)

Perhaps this is one of those cases where I've learned a word from context, rather than looking it up, but the definition my dictionary gives me for miscreant actually doesn't vary much in the specifics:

A person who behaves badly or in a way that breaks the law.

That's pretty vague, though it does use the more definitive word "bad." So perhaps it's those connotations rattling round in my head, leading me astray with the idea of youthful indiscretion rather than actual malevolence.

My hooligans are getting their comeuppance in Pakistan, though, according to a recent McClatchy News Service story. It quoted a series of Pakistani government pronouncements in which the word "miscreant" is used to label terrorist enemies of the state:

• "Security forces used artillery, mortars and small-arms fire to engage the miscreants. Reportedly, 50-60 miscreants were killed..."
• "Security forces retaliated with fire, causing heavy casualties on miscreants..."
• "Forty miscreants were captured during operations on late Friday and early Saturday, while 10 dead bodies of miscreants were also recovered..."
• And this from Musharraf himself: "Let me assure you we are going to instruct the rangers and army to shoot miscreants during elections."

I can't help but wonder if the Pakistani usage isn't rooted in the (according to my dictionary) archaic meaning of the word, which was heretic -- since miscreant derives from the Old French mescreant, which is the present participle of disbelieve.

Maybe "miscreant is not archaic afterall, but alive and and well and living in Pakistan.