What is a felony?

Answer 1

A felony is a serious crime. Those who are guilty of committing a felony can be sentenced to spend years in a state or federal prison

Answer 2

A felony is a serious crime such as murder, arson, or armed robbery, which is punishable by a term in a state prison. If you are convicted of a felony, you may not hold certain jobs such as a lawyer or police officer, hold a public office, or work on the securities and exchange

Answer 3

Here's the break down in the US:

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 which are commonly considered to be felonies include, but are not limited to: aggravated assault and/or battery, arson, burglary, drug possession, embezzlement, treason, espionage, 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, often resulting in their return to a life of crime.

Answer 4

roughly defined, a crime that is punishable by greater than 1 year in state prison.

Answer 5

Murder, rape, distributing illegal substances.... serious offenses that are against the law in every state and will most likely get you time in prison.

Answer 6

an offense, as murder or burglary, of graver character than those called misdemeanors, esp. those commonly punished in the U.S. by imprisonment for more than a year.

Answer 7

It is a crime which somebody can do prison time for.