Historically outlaws were very common and many ended up serving the government in the army or other administrative roles eventually, but I would like to make the point that outlaws and bandits are two VERY different things, and I am getting a bit annoyed when I am walking around as an outlaw and get instantly attacked. Also presuming that outlaws are "peasants" is incorrect, some of England most famous outlaws were lords!
To be classed as an outlaw in Europe , more specifically england you just did not turn up to your court preceding, and following a period of usually 6 weeks - 6 months you were then pronounced an outlaw, but as many people often went by many different names and with no way of tracking movement or other things, outlaws could live fairly normal lives, they were not all robin hoods .
Outlaws were only actively pursued by sheriffs or commissioners of the peace when they started causing trouble, aka mass robbery/murder, once an outlaw gang even laid seige to an entire city in the 14th century!