A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resulted in the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods, to which additional punishments, including capital punishment, could be added; other crimes were called misdemeanors. Following conviction of a felony in a court of law, a person may be described as a felon or a convicted felon.
In many common-law jurisdictions, such as England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, crimes are no longer classified as felonies or misdemeanors. Instead, crimes are classified by mode of trial as indictable offenses, triable by jury, and frequently requiring a grand jury indictment, which are usually more serious, and summary offenses, triable by summary procedure without a jury and are usually less serious.
In some civil law jurisdictions, such as Italy and Spain, the term delict is used to describe serious offenses, a category similar to common law felony. In other nations, such as Germany, France, Belgium, and Switzerland, more serious offenses are described as "crimes", while "misdemeanors" or "delicts" (or délits) are less serious. In still others, such as Brazil and Portugal, "crimes" and "delicts" are synonymous (more serious) and are opposed to contraventions (less serious).
Jurisdictions
Cameroon In the law of Cameroon, a felony is a crime for which the maximum sentence is more than 10 years, or death.Republic of Cameroon, Law No. 2016/007 of July 12, 2016, Relating to the Penal Code, section 21. Available in English (PDF) and French (PDF). Felonies are distinguished from misdemeanors (maximum sentence from 10 days to 10 years) and offenses (not exceeding 10 days). While lesser crimes are tried before a magistrate's court, felonies must be tried before a high court (tribunal de grande instance).
The drafters of the bilingual Cameroonian penal code of 1967 based their work on French law and Nigerian law. In the case of felonies, they chose to set the threshold for felonies much higher than under either French law (five years) or Nigerian law (three years). This had the effect of greatly reducing the number of felonies under Cameroonian law. It also reduced the number of crimes that were subject to trial by jury in the courts of East Cameroon at that time.
Germany A felony (, a word also translated in less technical contexts as simply "crime") is defined in the (Criminal Code, StGB) as an unlawful act () that is punishable with a minimum of one year's imprisonment.StGB Section 12: Felonies and Misdemeanours, Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Verbrechen sind rechtswidrige Taten, die im Mindestmaß mit Freiheitsstrafe von einem Jahr oder darüber bedroht sind." A misdemeanor (Vergehen) is any other crime punishable by imprisonment with a minimum of less than one year or by fine.StGB Section 12: Felonies and Misdemeanours, Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Vergehen sind rechtswidrige Taten, die im Mindestmaß mit einer geringeren Freiheitsstrafe oder die mit Geldstrafe bedroht sind."
However, in some cases a severe version of a misdemeanor may be punished with imprisonment of more than one year, yet the crime itself remains considered a misdemeanor. The same applies for a milder version of a felony that is punished with imprisonment less than a year.StGB Section 12: Felonies and Misdemeanors, Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Schärfungen oder Milderungen, die nach den Vorschriften des Allgemeinen Teils oder für besonders schwere oder minder schwere Fälle vorgesehen sind, bleiben für die Einteilung außer Betracht."
An attempt to commit a felony is itself a crime, whereas an attempt to commit a misdemeanor is a crime only if specifically prescribed as such by law.StGB Section 23: Criminality of the Attempt, Bundesministerium der Justiz. "Der Versuch eines Verbrechens ist stets strafbar, der Versuch eines Vergehens nur dann, wenn das Gesetz es ausdrücklich bestimmt."
Ireland In Irish law the distinction between felony and misdemeanor was abolished by section 3 of the Criminal Law Act, 1997, such that the law previously applied to misdemeanors was extended to all offenses. Minister Joan Burton, introducing the bill in the Seanad, said "The distinction has been eroded over many years and in today's conditions has no real relevance. Today, for example, serious offenses such as fraudulent conversion and obtaining property by false pretenses are classified as misdemeanors whereas a relatively trivial offense such as stealing a bar of chocolate is a felony." The 1997 Act, modeled on the English Criminal Law Act 1967, introduced the category of "arrestable offense" for those with penalties of five years' imprisonment or greater.
The 1937 Constitution declares that the parliamentary privilege, which protects Oireachtas members from arrest traveling to or from the legislature, does not apply to "treason, felony, and breach of the peace".Constitution of Ireland, Article 15.13 The 1996 Constitutional Review Group recommended replacing "felony" with "serious criminal offence".
United Kingdom
England and Wales History
The concept of "felony" rests upon an oddly circular legal fiction; the common law has never actually defined the act of felony, yet its prosecution proceeds as though it has. Legal historian Frederic William Maitland explained that the medieval concept of felony can only be known "by its legal effects; any definition that would turn upon the quality of the crime is unattainable". As explained above, felony is still defined today in American jurisprudence in consequentialist terms, as any crime punishable by more than a year in prison. It is defined not in terms of the criminal act itself, but by how the law responds to that act. In other words, a felony cannot be said to truly exist until the law has already treated a particular crime as such, "but in order to treat it as a felony, the law must pretend that it recognizes its object".
This fundamental flaw at the heart of the problem of what is a felony has been recognized by English writers since the medieval era. In the Knight's Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer introduces Felonye, a character known only by the company he keeps.
Regardless, this flaw has not prevented legal commentators from attempting to articulate substantive definitions. Sir William Blackstone wrote in the 18th century that felony "comprises every species of crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods".Blackstone, W. (1765). Commentaries on the Laws of England (Book IV chapter 7) Oxford: Clarendon Press. The word felony was feudal in origin, denoting the value of a man's entire property: "the consideration for which a man gives up his fief".Blackstone. Blackstone refutes the misconception that felony simply means an offense punishable by death, by demonstrating that not every felony is capital, and not every capital offense is a felony. However, he concedes that "the idea of felony is indeed so generally connected with that of capital punishment, that we find it hard to separate them; and to this usage the interpretations of the law do now conform."
The death penalty for felony could be avoided by pleading benefit of clergy, which gradually evolved to exempt everybody (whether clergy or not) from that punishment for a first offense, except for high treason and offenses expressly excluded by statute. During the 19th century criminal law reform incrementally reduced the number of capital offenses (see Capital punishment in the United Kingdom), and forfeiture for felony was abolished by the Forfeiture Act 1870. Consequently, the distinction between felony and misdemeanor became increasingly arbitrary in British jurisprudence. The surviving differences consisted of different rules of evidence and procedure, and the Law Commission recommended that felonies be abolished altogether. This was done by the Criminal Law Act 1967, which set the criminal practice for all crimes as that of misdemeanor and introduced a new system of classifying crimes as either "arrestable" and "non-arrestable" offenses (according to which a general power of arrest was available for crimes punishable by five years' imprisonment or more).
Arrestable offenses were abolished in 2006,Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. and today crimes are classified as indictable or summary offenses, the only distinction being the mode of trial (by jury in the Crown Court or summarily in a magistrates' court, respectively).
Procedure The Trials for Felony Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4 c. 114) allowed persons indicted for felonies to be represented by counsel or attorney.
Terminology A person being prosecuted for this was called a prisoner, though increasingly "accused" or "defendant" was preferred.O. Hood Phillips. A First Book of English Law. Sweet and Maxwell. Fourth Edition. 1960. Page 151.
Northern Ireland Felonies in Northern Ireland were abolished, and criminal procedure for all offences was set as that of misdemeanor effective 29 August 1967, via provision made by the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967.
United States
In the United States, a felony is a crime that is punishable by death or more than one year in prison. The felony–misdemeanor distinction is still widely applied, and the federal government defines a felony as a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year. If punishable by exactly one year or less, it is classified as a misdemeanor. The classification is based upon a crime's potential sentence, so a crime remains classified as a felony even if a defendant convicted of a felony receives a sentence of one year or less. Some individual states classify crimes by other factors, such as seriousness or context.
History Under common law, felonies were crimes punishable by either death, forfeiture of property, or both. While felony charges remain serious, concerns of proportionality (i.e., that the punishment fits the crime) have since prompted legislatures to require or permit the imposition of less serious punishments, ranging from lesser terms of imprisonment to the substitution of a jail sentence or even the suspension of all incarceration contingent upon a defendant's successful completion of probation.Doing Justice – The Choice of Punishments, A VONHIRSCH, 1976, p.220Criminology, Larry J. Siegel Standards for measurement of an offense's seriousness include attempts to quantitatively estimate and compare the effects of a crime upon its specific victims or society generally.
The reform of harsh felony laws that had originated in Great Britain was deemed "one of the first fruits of liberty" after the United States became independent.
Classification by subject matter Felonies may include but are not limited to the following: Aggravated assault or battery Animal cruelty Arson Blackmail Burglary Child pornography Copyright infringementLegislative History – Copyright Felony Act. H.R. REP. NO. 997. Cybercrime Driving under the influence (certain DUI cases involving bodily injury and/or death. In some jurisdictions property damage over a certain amount elevates a DUI charge to a felony as well) False imprisonment Forgery Fraud Grand larceny or grand theft, i.e., larceny or theft above a certain statutorily established value or quantity of goods Identity theft Illegal drug trade, manufacture, sale, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute certain types or quantities of illegal drugs. In some jurisdictions, the possession of certain types of illegal drugs for personal use. Kidnapping Manslaughter (unintentional killing of another) Murder Obstruction of justice Perjury Police impersonation, with the intention of deception Rape/sexual assault Resisting arrest, e.g., high-speed chase Robbery/extortion Usurpation Tax evasion