Wiktionary
n. 1 depravity 2 (context legal English) Any base or vile conduct, contrary to accepted morals, that accompanies a crime
Wikipedia
Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States and some other countries that refers to "conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals. This term appears in U.S. immigration law beginning in the 19th century.
The concept of "moral turpitude" might escape precise definition, but it has been described as an "act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellowmen, or to society in general, contrary to the accepted and customary rule of right and duty between man and man."
The classification of a crime or other conduct as constituting moral turpitude has significance in several areas of law. First, prior conviction of a crime of moral turpitude (or in some jurisdictions, "moral turpitude conduct", even without a conviction) is considered to have a bearing on the honesty of a witness and might be used for purposes of the impeachment of witnesses. Second, offenses involving moral turpitude may be grounds to deny or revoke state professional licenses such as teaching credentials, licenses to practice law, or other licensed profession. Third, this concept is of great importance for immigration purposes in the United States, Canada (prior to 1976), and some other countries, since offenses which are defined as involving moral turpitude are considered bars to immigration into the U.S.
Usage examples of "moral turpitude".
In the brief time of his incumbency, I have no doubt that the shockingly public moral turpitude of the team has made a worse name for what I was once proud to claim as my Alma Mater than a lifetime of gridiron victories can possibly offset.
His pedagogical method had been unorthodox, and so like many radicals he had worked against vehement opposition, even actual persecutions: I gathered his tenure was revoked and he was dismissed from his position on a charge of moral turpitude while still in his early thirties -- though it was not clear to me whether he had ever held official rank in his faculty.
For some reason your refusal to pay the bills they ran up trying to defeat you will seem like a clear case of moral turpitude to them.
That implied that she had not exposed herself to such depths of degradation but, theoretically at least, was guilty of a greater degree of moral turpitude.
There is a clause in all university contracts allowing tenure to be revoked in cases of 'moral turpitude.
The Gospels are therefore, in that sense of the word which most implies moral turpitude, forgeries.
Sumner's charges were directed against alleged moral turpitude, and the classic form and scrupulous regard for parliamentary rules which he observed only added to the feeling of personal resentment on the part of his opponents.