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misdemeanor

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

mis·de·mean·or

(mĭs'dĭ-mē'nər) pronunciation
n.
  1. A misdeed.
  2. Law. A criminal offense that is less serious than a felony and generally punishable by a fine, a jail term of up to a year, or both.

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is spelt -our in British English and misdemeanor in American English.

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Class of criminal offenses less serious than felonies and sanctioned by less severe penalties.

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Columbia Encyclopedia:

misdemeanor

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misdemeanor, in law, a minor crime, in contrast to a felony. At common law a misdemeanor was a crime other than treason or a felony. Although it might be a grave offense, it did not affect the feudal bond or take away the offender's property. By the 19th cent. serious crimes were labeled felonies, and minor crimes misdemeanors. In the United States a misdemeanor usually is an offense that may be punished summarily by fine and by imprisonment for less than a year. Commission of a misdemeanor does not cancel citizenship or subject an alien to deportation. In some states of the United States certain minor law violations are not even classified as misdemeanors, e.g., traffic offenses and breach of municipal regulations.


This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Offenses lower than felonies and generally those punishable by fine, penalty, forfeiture, or imprisonment other than in a penitentiary. Under federal law, and most state laws, any offense other than a felony is classified as a misdemeanor. Certain states also have various classes of misdemeanors (e.g., Class A, B, etc.).

(mis-di-mee-nuhr)

A minor crime, punishable by a fine or a light jail term. Common misdemeanors, such as traffic violations, are usually dealt with informally, without a trial. (Compare felony.)

Devil's Dictionary:

misdemeanor

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A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce


n.

An infraction of the law having less dignity than a felony and constituting no claim to admittance into the best criminal society.

    By misdemeanors he essays to climb
    Into the aristocracy of crime.
    O, woe was him! -- with manner chill and grand
    "Captains of industry" refused his hand,
    "Kings of finance" denied him recognition
    And "railway magnates" jeered his low condition.
    He robbed a bank to make himself respected.
    They still rebuffed him, for he was detected.
                                                          S.V. Hanipur


Word Tutor:

misdemeanor

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A breaking of the law that is less serious than a felony.

pronunciation Jaywalking is a misdemeanor but it can still be very dangerous.

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Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'misdemeanor'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to misdemeanor, see:
  • Crimes, Criminals, and Civil Offenders - misdemeanor: lesser offense than felony, punishable by fine or imprisonment in jail but not penitentiary
  • Crimes - misdemeanor: illegal act less serious than a felony, usu. punishable by fine or probation


  See crossword solutions for the clue Misdemeanour.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Misdemeanor

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A misdemeanor (also spelled misdemeanour) is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as minor, petty or summary offences) and regulatory offences. Many misdemeanors are punished with monetary fines.

Contraventions are similar to misdemeanors in many civil law countries (e.g. France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland etc.).

Contents

Distinction between felonies and misdemeanors

In the United States, the federal government generally considers a crime punishable with incarceration for one year or less to be a misdemeanor.[1] All other crimes are considered felonies. Many states also employ this distinction.

A misdemeanor is considered a crime of low seriousness, and a felony one of high seriousness. A principal of the rationale for the degree punishment meted out is that the punishment should fit the crime.[2][3][4] One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. Measurements of the degree of seriousness of a crime have been developed.[5]

The distinction between felonies and misdemeanors has been abolished by several other common law jurisdictions (e.g. Australia[6]). Those jurisdictions have generally adopted some other classification: in the Commonwealth nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the crimes are divided into summary offences and indictable offences. Ireland, a former member of the Commonwealth, also uses these divisions.

Typical misdemeanors and sentences

Graffiti, a common form of the misdemeanor vandalism.

In some jurisdictions, those who are convicted of a misdemeanor are known as misdemeanants (as contrasted with those convicted of a felony who are known as felons). Depending on the jurisdiction, examples of misdemeanors may include: petty theft, prostitution, public intoxication, simple assault, disorderly conduct, trespass, vandalism, reckless driving, possession of marijuana (or in some jurisdictions first-time possession of other drugs), and other similar crimes.

Punishments for misdemeanors

In the United States, misdemeanors are typically crimes with a maximum punishment of 12 months of incarceration, typically in a local jail (again, as contrasted with felons, who are typically incarcerated in a prison). Jurisdictions such as Massachusetts are a notable exception where the maximum punishment of some misdemeanors is up to 2.5 years. Those people who are convicted of misdemeanors are often punished with probation, community service, short jail term, or part-time imprisonment; served on the weekends.

Misdemeanors usually do not result in the loss of civil rights (though in jurisdictions such as Massachusetts they commonly do), but may result in loss of privileges, such as professional licenses, public offices, or public employment. Such effects are known as the collateral consequences of criminal charges. This is more common when the misdemeanor is related to the privilege in question (such as the loss of a taxi driver's license after a conviction for reckless driving), or when the misdemeanor involves moral turpitude – and in general is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. One prominent example of this is found in the United States Constitution, which provides that the President may be impeached by Congress for "high crimes and misdemeanors" and removed from office accordingly. The definition of a "high crime" is left to the judgment of Congress.

In Singapore, misdemeanors generally are sentenced to months of jail sentence but with individual crimes suspects are sentenced to a harsher sentence. The penalty of vandalism is a fine not exceeding S$2,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years, and also corporal punishment of not less than three strokes and not more than eight strokes of the cane.

Misdemeanor classes

Possession of cannabis is an unclassified misdemeanor in parts of the US.

Depending on the jurisdiction, several classes of misdemeanors may exist; the forms of punishment can vary widely between those classes. For example, the federal and state governments in the United States divide misdemeanors into several classes, with certain classes punishable by jail time and others carrying only a fine.[7]

Unclassified misdemeanors

When a statute does not specify the class, it is referred to as an unclassified misdemeanor. Legislators usually enact such laws when they wish to impose penalties that fall outside the framework specified by each class. For instance, Virginia has four classes of misdemeanors, with Class 1 and Class 2 misdemeanors being punishable by twelve-month and six-month jail sentences, respectively, and Class 3 and Class 4 misdemeanors being non-jail offenses payable by fines. As first-time cannabis possession is an unclassified misdemeanor in that state, state lawmakers have made it punishable by up to 30 days in jail rather than the normal fines and jail sentences of the four classes.[8][9]

England and Wales

A person prosecuted for misdemeanour was called a defendant.[10]

Federal Republic of Germany

A felony (Verbrechen) is defined as a crime that is punishable with at least one year of imprisonment.[11]

Misdemeanours (Vergehen) are all other crimes punishable by imprisonment of less than one year or by fine.[12]

However, in some cases a very severe version misdemeanour may be punished with imprisonment of more than one year, yet the crime itself remains considered a misdemeanour. Same applies for a milder version of a felony that is punishable with imprisonment less than a year.[13]

An attempt to commit a felony crime is always punishable whilst an attempt to commit a misdemeanour is solely punishable if particularly prescribed by law.[14]

A plea bargain (Strafbefehl) is only applicable for misdemeanours, not for felonies.

See also

References

  1. ^ 18 U.S.C. § 3559
  2. ^ Doing Justice - The Choice of Punishments, A VONHIRSCH, 1976, p.220
  3. ^ Criminology, Larry J. Siegel
  4. ^ An Economic Analysis of the Criminal Law as Preference-Shaping Policy, Duke Law Journal, Feb 1990, Vol. 1, Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, [1]
  5. ^ Offense Seriousness Scaling: An Alternative to Scenario Methods, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Volume 9, Number 3, 309-322, DOI: 10.1007/BF01064464 James P. Lynch and Mona J. E. Danner, [2]
  6. ^ Crimes Act 1958 (Vic., Australia) s. 332B(1), Crimes Act 1900 (NSW., Australia) s. 580E(1)
  7. ^ See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 3559
  8. ^ § 18.2-250.1. Possession of marijuana unlawful, Code of Virginia.
  9. ^ § 18.2-11. Punishment for conviction of misdemeanor, Code of Virginia.
  10. ^ O. Hood Phillips. A First Book of English Law. Sweet and Maxwell. Fourth Edition. 1960. Page 151.
  11. ^ [3] "Verbrechen sind rechtswidrige Taten, die im Mindestmaß mit Freiheitsstrafe von einem Jahr oder darüber bedroht sind."
  12. ^ [4]"Vergehen sind rechtswidrige Taten, die im Mindestmaß mit einer geringeren Freiheitsstrafe oder die mit Geldstrafe bedroht sind."
  13. ^ [5]"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."
  14. ^ [6]"Der Versuch eines Verbrechens ist stets strafbar, der Versuch eines Vergehens nur dann, wenn das Gesetz es ausdrücklich bestimmt."

Misspellings:

misdemeanor

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Common misspelling(s) of misdemeanor

  • misdemenor
  • misdameanor

Translations:

Misdemeanour

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - forseelse, simpel forbrydelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
overtreding

Français (French)
n. - incartade, (Jur) délit

Deutsch (German)
n. - Vergehen, Übertretung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ατόπημα, παράπτωμα, πταίσμα

Italiano (Italian)
reato

Português (Portuguese)
n. - contravenção (f)

Русский (Russian)
мелкое преступление, скверное поведение

Español (Spanish)
n. - infracción, delito menor, fechoría, mala conducta

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - förseelse, lagöverträdelse

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
行为不端

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 行為不端

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 경범죄, 나쁜 짓

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 無作法, 不品行, 非行

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جرم تطبق عليه عقوبه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עבירה‬


 
 

 

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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Barron's Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2007 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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$copyright.smallImage.alttext West's Encyclopedia of American Law. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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