"Nothing wrong with borrowing a wallet, I mean, we'll give it back...eventually and not guaranteed to have the contents it did originally, and you may have to search for it...but you'll get it back." -- Moe
Outlaws aren't necessarily criminals, they could also be persons that are deprived of the benefit and protection of the law...but i don't think that definition works into the settings much. From what I can tell of the guild, they're mostly mischief makers, not bent on wrecking havoc but more for their own fun and amusement, although I may be wrong. And if that means bending the rules a little bit, even more the fun. Now that I think of it, the more it means bending the rules the more likely they'll do it, which does put them at odds with the powers that be. So I can kind of see how removing their protection would be move some governments would make, but of course I'm not entirely sure.
Point is: they're not all criminals...some are and some just have tendencies.