Felony and misdemeanor
The term felony is a term used in common law systems for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. It is principally used in criminal law in the United States legal system.
The distinction between a felony and misdemeanor has been abolished by some common law jurisdictions (e.g. Crimes Act 1958 (Vic., Australia) s. 332B(1), Crimes Act 1900 (NSW., Australia) s. 580E(1)); other jurisdictions maintain the distinction, notably those of the United States. Those jurisdictions which have abolished the distinction generally adopt some other classification, e.g. in Canada, Australia, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom the crimes are divided into summary offences and indictable offences.
Felony
Seriousness of a felony
In the United States, a felony is the higher category of criminal offenses, as distinct from a misdemeanor, which is the less serious category of offenses (although some states have done away with the felony/misdemeanor classification; for example, New Jersey designates offenses as first degree through fourth degree. A third degree offense is punishable by six months to eighteen months in jail. Some states also subdivide felonies into "classes", such as Class A through Class J or Class 1 through Class 7 felonies).
What is a felony and who commits one?
Crimes commonly considered to be felonies include, but are not limited to: aggravated assault and/or battery, arson, burglary, some instances of drug possession (dependent on the jurisdiction, often possession over a certain weight, based on the type of drug, is held to indicate intent to sell or distribute), embezzlement, grand theft, treason, espionage, racketeering, robbery, murder, rape, cannabis cultivation and fraud. A third offense for drinking and driving is also a felony in most states.
Felony categories
"The common law divided participants in a felony into four basic categories: (1) first-degree principals, those who actually committed the crime in question; (2) second-degree principals, aiders and abettors present at the scene of the crime; (3) accessories before the fact, aiders and abettors who helped the principal before the basic criminal event took place; and (4) accessories after the fact, persons who helped the principal after the basic criminal event took place. In the course of the 20th century, however, American jurisdictions eliminated the distinction among the first three categories." Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez, 549 U.S. __ (2007) (citations omitted).
In some states, felonies are also classified according to their seriousness. The number of classifications and the corresponding crimes vary by state and are determined by the legislature. Usually, the legislature also determines the maximum punishment allowable for each felony class.
Punishment
A felony may be punishable with imprisonment for more than one year or death in the case of the most serious felonies, such as murder, treason, and espionage; indeed, at common law when the British and American legal systems divorced in 1776, felonies were crimes for which the punishment was either death or forfeiture of property. In modern times, felons can receive punishments which range in severity; from probation, to imprisonment, to execution for premeditated murder or other serious crimes. In the United States felons often face additional consequences, such as the loss of voting rights in many states, exclusion from certain lines of work, prohibition from obtaining certain licenses, exclusion from purchase and possession of firearms or ammunition, and ineligibility to run for or be elected to public office. In addition, some states consider a felony conviction to be grounds for an uncontested divorce. These, among other losses of privileges not included explicitly in sentencing, are known as collateral consequences of criminal charges.
Civil sanctions of felonies
Civil sanctions imposed on United States citizens convicted of a felony in many states include the loss of competence to serve on a grand or petit jury or to vote in elections even after release from prison. While controversial, these disabilities are explicitly sanctioned by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a Reconstruction-era amendment that deals with permissible state regulation of voting rights.
Expunction
Theoretically, federal law allows persons convicted of felonies in a federal United States district court to apply to have their record expunged after a certain period of time with a clean record. However, the U.S. Congress has refused to fund the federal agency mandated with handling the applications of convicted felons to have their record expunged. This means that, in practice, federal felons cannot have their records expunged.
For state law convictions, expunction is determined by the law of the state. Some states do not allow this, regardless of the offense, resulting in class of people permanently lacking many legitimate opportunities. These people can have extreme difficulty finding a job or even a place to live, regardless of qualifications or references, which can result in their return to a life of crime.
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a "lesser" criminal act. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than felonies; but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as regulatory offenses).
Examples of misdemeanor offenses
In some jurisdictions, those who are convicted of a misdemeanor are known as misdemeanants (as contrasted with those convicted of a felony who are known as felons). Depending on the jurisdiction, examples of misdemeanors may include: petty theft, prostitution, public intoxication, simple assault, disorderly conduct, trespass, vandalism, and other similar crimes. In general, misdemeanors are crimes with a maximum punishment of 12 months of incarceration, typically in a local jail (again, as contrasted with felons, who are typically incarcerated in a prison). Those people who are convicted of misdemeanors are often punished with probation, community service or part-time imprisonment, served on the weekends.
Less seriousness of misdemeanors
In Anglo-American law misdemeanors are in the middle range of seriousness for violations of the law. Felonies are the most serious and typically result in automatic forfeiture of some civil rights, including suffrage, and commonly involve lengthy incarceration. Typically, only those charged with felonies are entitled to the right of trial by jury. Infractions are the least serious, are punishable only by fine (and a command to reverse the behavior), and never carry a formal social stigma (examples of violations include parking and minor traffic offences, late payment of fees, and building code violations).
Sanctions of misdemeanors
Misdemeanors usually don't result in the loss of civil rights, but may result in loss of privileges, such as professional licences, public offices, or public employment. Such effects are known as the collateral consequences of criminal charges. This is more common when the misdemeanor is related to the privilege in question (such as the loss of a taxi driver's license after a conviction for reckless driving), or when the misdemeanor involves moral turpitude — and in general is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. One prominent example of this is found in the United States Constitution, which provides that the President may be impeached by Congress for "high crimes and misdemeanors" and removed from office accordingly. The definition of a "high" misdemeanor is left to the judgement of Congress.
Within classes of offences, the form of punishment can vary widely. For example, the US federal government and many U.S. states divide misdemeanors into several classes, with certain classes punishable by jail time and others carrying only a fine.
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See also
- Three Strikes Law
- Misprision of felony
- Compounding a felony
- Felony murder
- Legal Action Center is a non-profit law and policy organization in the United States whose mission is to fight discrimination against those with felony records
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