Five Categories of Crime Essay Example For Students

Five Categories of Crime Essay There are five categories of crime in America. These categories include felonies, misdemeanors, offenses, treason and espionage and inchoate offenses. A felony is considered a very serious crime in the USA, as well as many other countries. A felony is a crime which is punishable by death (lethal injection, electric chair, etc) or imprisonment of more than one year. There are some instances in which a crime can be considered a felony or a misdemeanor (which I will get into shortly), depending on the severity of the crime and the circumstances of which it was committed. An example of this type of situation would be carrying a gun while walking down the street or carrying a gun into a government building. In most cases, you would be charged with a misdemeanor. However, if you carry into a government building you will be charged with a felony regardless of your intentions. In some states, such as Indiana, felonies are classified according to their severity and punishment. These classifications are generally called class A, B, C, and D; with A being the worst and D being the least serious. Other states classify felonies numerically as 1st degree, 2nd degree, etc. When a crime is punishable by exactly one year or less, it is classified as a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor is considered to be much less severe than a felony and is typically punished with a fine to the court. These crimes normally do not result in civil rights loss, but they can result in the loss of certain priveleges related to the crime. If a person is caught drinking and driving, they may receive either a small jail sentence or a fine, as well as loss of their drivers license for a given period of time. As stated by Wikipedia, â€Å"an offense is a violation of the penal law. † Offenses can range from something as simple as rolling through a stop sign to something as severe as murder or child molestation. The term ‘offense’ means that there is usually no victim involved, but the act was still illegal.