Felony
From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
 |
| Part of the |
|---|
| Elements of crimes |
| Classes of crimes |
| Felony/ |
| Misdemeanor/ |
| Infraction |
| Crimes against the person |
| Assault · |
| Crimes against property |
| Burglary · Larceny · Arson |
| Embezzlement · |
| Extortion · Forgery · |
| Crimes against justice |
| Perjury · |
| Subsets |
| Other areas of the common law |
| Portals: |
The term felony is used for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. It means a crime against the government. It is principally used in
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
A felon is a person responsible for committing a felony, which is generally a
[edit] United States
In the United States, a felony is one of the highest types of offenses, and may be punishable with death or imprisonment. It is a crime punishable by one or more years of imprisonment, and regarded as more serious than a misdemeanor.
Crimes commonly considered to be felonies include, but are not limited to: aggravated assault and/or
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
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, often resulting in their return to a life of crime.