Felony
The term
felony is used 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 and the
United Kingdom the crimes are divided into
summary offences and
indictable offences.
A felon is a person responsible for committing a felony and is generally a
social stigma.
In the United States, a felony is one of the highest types of offenses, and punishable with death or imprisonment. It is a crime punishable by 1 or more years of imprisonment, and regarded as more serious than a
misdemeanor.
Crimes which are commonly considered to be felonies include, but are not limited to:
aggravated assault and/or
battery,
arson,
burglary,
drug possession,
embezzlement,
racketeering,
murder, and
rape. A third offense for drinking and driving is also a felony in most states. Originally, 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. In the
United States felons often receive additional punishments such as the loss of
voting rights, exclusion from certain lines of work, prohibition from obtaining certain licenses, exclusion from purchase/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.
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 D felonies.
A civil sanction imposed on United States citizens convicted of a felony includes 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
Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a
Reconstruction-era amendment that deals with permissible state regulation of voting rights.
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 a subclass of citizens. These citizens can have extreme difficulty finding a job or even a place to live, regardless of qualifications or references.
See also
*
Three strikes law*
Misprision of felony
