Key Differences Between Misdemeanor and Felony Charges

When someone is caught committing a crime, they can be charged with either a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the severity of said crime. However, knowing the fundamental differences between the two is important, especially for those facing criminal charges, primarily because misdemeanors and felonies have different classifications and result in different sets of consequences.

What Are the Differences?

To understand the difference between misdemeanors and felonies, we must first understand what each of these categories of crime implies.

What are Misdemeanors?

Generally speaking, misdemeanors are less severe criminal offenses, which usually range from vandalism to shoplifting, disorderly conduct, DUI and DWI offenses, drug possession for first-time offenders, and other criminal offenses regarded more severe than infractions, but less severe than felonies.

Misdemeanor offenses typically involve non-violent crimes. As such, a misdemeanor, in most states, is a criminal offense that carries a potential jail term of up to one year. It’s important to note that some states define misdemeanors as criminal offenses that are not felonies or infractions.

However, under federal guidelines, misdemeanors are further classified by the maximum imprisonment time. For example, a Class A misdemeanor carries a potential jail term of less than one year but more than six months, while a Class B misdemeanor carries a potential jail term of up to six months but no less than a month.

Class C misdemeanor carries a potential jail term of up to one month or thirty days, but more than five days. Jail time is typically served in a local county jail, as opposed to maximum security facilities.

What Is a Felony?

Felonies

encapsulate more severe crime categories, such as aggravated assaults, domestic violence (including physical harm), sexual assault, and murder. It’s worth noting that a felony is defined as a crime with a jail term of one year or longer by the federal government.

However, individual states are less strict about the definition, relying on their own definitions. For example, the state of Idaho defines a felony as a crime that’s punishable by death or by imprisonment in a state prison. Georgia, on the other hand, defines a felony as a crime that’s punishable by death, life in prison, or any imprisonment that’s longer than 12 months.

Similar to misdemeanors, federal law also has different classifications when it comes to the severity of particular felonies, which rely on the amount of sentencing time.

For example, a Class A felony implies life imprisonment or the death penalty, a Class B felony carries an imprisonment term of 25 years or longer, and Class C carries an imprisonment term of less than 25 but more than 10 years. Class D and Class E felonies have five to 10 and one to five years of imprisonment, respectively.

Felonies are crimes that include burglary, arson, kidnapping, rape, or murder and are viewed as severe crimes by society. Given the severity of the punishment, criminal procedures associated with felonies have to be strictly observed so that the defendant’s rights are protected until they are adequately prosecuted.

Understanding the Differences

The differences between felonies and misdemeanors, at least in terms of federal law, lie in the severity of the crime committed, as well as the terms of the punishment. While it is important to understand the fundamental differences between these two crime categories, their intricacies require a greater depth of knowledge, underscoring the need for experienced criminal defense attorneys like those at Spartacus Law Firm who will know how to advocate for their defendant and best prepare their defense.

States often have their own definitions that don’t always adhere to the definitions provided by the federal law, creating inconsistencies in classifications. Different jurisdictions classify crimes differently, and it’s entirely possible that the amount of theft that’s classified as a felony in one state is a misdemeanor in another.

Apart from knowing the fundamental differences between misdemeanors and felonies, it’s important to be familiar with legal classifications of different crimes according to the law in which the crime has occurred.

Additionally, it’s also important to be familiar with the consequences of different crimes and how they might affect the defendant’s life going forward. For example, while some misdemeanors might result in jail time, most misdemeanor offenses do not and typically don’t imply life-changing consequences.

On the other hand, felonies are more severe offenses that often send ripples through the defendant’s life and potentially the lives of their family members. It can disqualify defendants from certain types of employment, prevent them from getting a loan in the future, and make renting more difficult.

Summary

In summary, the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor lies in the severity of the crimes committed and the punishment for said crimes. Given the potential for life-changing consequences sentencing carries, having an experienced criminal defense representative can help you negotiate a plea bargain, which could potentially reduce your felony charge to a misdemeanor.

Ann Mazotta, California Business Journal