Criminal law: Felonies and misdemeanors

Felonies and misdemeanors

•Felony. A felony is a serious crime, usually defined as punishable by one year or more in prison. Felonies include such violent crimes as murder, armed robbery, and rape, and also some non-violent crimes – embezzlement, burglary, drug dealing, etc. The fact that the possible penalty for a felony is a year or more in jail doesn’t mean that someone convicted has to receive that sentence. Actual punishment for a felony can vary from the maximum sentence – which, for a first-degree murder conviction in some states or the federal system, could be death – to probation, community service, restitution (repayment, either in money or some other form), or some other alternative to jail.
•Misdemeanor. A misdemeanor is a less serious crime, punishable by a short jail term and/or a fine, restitution, community service, probation, or another alternative to jail time. Misdemeanors are usually non-violent – although being involved in a bar brawl or street fight may be classed as a misdemeanor – and include such actions as drug possession, drunk driving, and shoplifting.

In federal cases, and in many states, the prosecutor must bring any serious criminal case first to a Grand Jury to determine whether there is enough evidence to bring an indictment. Federal and most state grand juries are chosen from the same pool of jurors – usually registered voters and/or holders of drivers’ licenses – as trial juries. A grand jury, however, meets over a longer period of time (6 months to as long as 36 months for a federal grand jury) than a trial jury, and may do its own investigation as well as hearing witnesses and considering evidence.

The federal government and 23 states (Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia), as well as the District of Columbia have to present serious felonies to the grand jury for possible indictment. In 25 other states, prosecutors have various options, one of which is to seek a grand jury indictment. In the final two states, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, grand juries no longer indict, but are only investigative.

Main source: Community Box (https://ctb.ku.edu).

Some distintions between Felonies and misdemeanors

A misdemeanor is any “lesser”criminal act in some Common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as minor, petty or summary offences) and regulatory offences. Many misdemeanors are punished with monetary fines.

In the United States, the federal government generally considers a crime punishable with incarceration for one year or less to be a misdemeanor.[1] All other crimes are considered felonies[citation needed]. Many states also employ this distinction[citation needed].

A misdemeanor is considered a crime of low seriousness, and a felony one of high seriousness[citation needed]. A principal of the rationale for the degree punishment meted out is that the punishment should fit the crime.[2][3][4] One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. Measurements of the degree of seriousness of a crime have been developed.[5]

The distinction between felonies and misdemeanors has been abolished by several Common law jurisdictions[citation needed] (e.g. Australia[6]). These jurisdictions have generally adopted some other classification: in the Commonwealth nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the crimes are divided into summary offences and indictable offences[citation needed]. The Republic of Ireland, a former member of the Commonwealth, also uses these divisions[citation

Main source: Wikipedia

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