A thief is, by definition, a criminal

You are a human and a human is by definition an animal. Yet I don't call you an animal.

Your word choice isn't neutral; it leaks information about you.

Child rapists and serial killers are also "my fellow man", yet we seem inclined as a society to assign labels ("criminal") and punishment for such actions.

You realise you're not disagreeing with me, yes?

I mean, feel free to respect child rapists, but they're a good bit different from the average "person", thus most would want to qualify that somehow