The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Malefactor

mal-e-fak'-ter (kakopoios, "a bad doer," i.e. "evildoer," "criminal"; kakourgos, "a wrongdoer"): The former occurs in Joh 18:30 the King James Version, the latter, which is the stronger term, in Lu 23:32,39. The former describes the subject as doing or making evil, the latter as creating or originating the bad, and hence, designates the more energetic, aggressive, initiating type of criminality.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr (1915). Public domain, from the CrossWire SWORD module.