Also known as: misdemeanors
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A crime less serious than a felony that is punishable by fine or short-term confinement in a local jail rather than prison. At common law the category encompassed all offenses other than treason and the enumerated felonies. The label also appears in the constitutional impeachment clause to identify serious official misconduct short of treason or bribery.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Marcus Mitchell agreed with an accomplice to burn a rival's warehouse. When the accomplice completed the arson, prosecutors charged only the completed felony. The inchoate agreement merged into the felony, so Mitchell faced no separate misdemeanor liability for the preliminary conspiracy.
An officer watched Mina Mehta drive through a red light. The violation carried only a fine. Because the misdemeanor occurred in the officer's presence, the Fourth Amendment permitted an immediate warrantless arrest even though no jail term was authorized.
The House charged the President with using the licensing power to punish media critics. The conduct was alleged to constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under Article II Section 4, exposing the President to possible removal upon Senate conviction.
Musa Mensah offered cash to a stagehand to start a fight that would eject a critic from a music festival. The request to commit an assault that would breach the peace constituted common-law solicitation, a misdemeanor complete upon the urging itself.
Maya Malik was convicted of a minor assault and received a suspended thirty-day jail term. Because the suspended sentence created a realistic threat of actual imprisonment, the Sixth Amendment required appointment of counsel even though the offense was only a misdemeanor.
Mariam Mansour shoved a colleague during an argument that arose while she was conducting unauthorized securities sales. The shove caused the colleague to fall through glass and die. The death during the misdemeanor battery supported involuntary manslaughter liability under the unlawful-act doctrine.
At common law only nine offenses counted as felonies. Every other crime was a misdemeanor. Felonies carried forfeiture of land and usually the death penalty. Misdemeanors carried fines or brief jail terms and did not trigger forfeiture.
Supporting sources
Counsel must be appointed whenever a suspended jail sentence is imposed because the sentence may later result in actual imprisonment. No right to counsel exists if the court imposes only a fine or other non-custodial penalty.
…law,[^maj-27] others followed Coke in stating that abortion of a quick fetus was a "misprision," a term they translated to mean "misdemeanor."[^maj-28] That their reliance on Coke on this aspect of the law was uncritical and, apparently in all the reported cases, dictum (due probably to the paucity of common-law prosecutions for…
…to cross-examine him. In 1696, the Court of King's Bench answered this question in the affirmative, in the widely reported misdemeanor libel case of King v. Paine , 5 Mod. 163, 87 Eng. Rep. 584. The court ruled that, even though a witness was dead, his examination was not admissible where "the defendant not being present…
…the "law and order" record of this Amish group of people is quite irrelevant. A religion is a religion irrespective of what the misdemeanor or felony records of its members might be. I am not at all sure how the Catholics, Episcopalians, the Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unitarians, and my own Presbyterians would make out…
…of the Court. Petitioner was charged in a Florida state court with having broken and entered a poolroom with intent to commit a misdemeanor. This offense is a felony under Florida law. Appearing in court without funds and without a lawyer, petitioner asked the court to appoint counsel for him, whereupon the following colloquy…
…or embezzling $100, § 22-30A-10, he would not be in prison today. All of these offenses would have been petty theft, a misdemeanor. § 22-30A-17 (amended 1982). Similarly, if Helm had written a $100 check against insufficient funds, rather than a nonexistent account, he would have been guilty of a
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Most courts require the misdemeanor to be malum in se or, if malum prohibitum, that the death be a foreseeable consequence of the unlawful act. A simple battery satisfies the rule because it is malum in se and the resulting death is a natural outcome.
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Yes. The Fourth Amendment permits a warrantless arrest when the misdemeanor is committed in the officer's presence even if the offense carries no jail term. The presence requirement supplies the necessary justification.
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The phrase refers to serious official misconduct that undermines the constitutional order, not merely any criminal misdemeanor. It encompasses bribery, treason, and other grave abuses of public trust.
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