Five Categories of Criminal Law Violations - Essay Example

 Crimes in the United States are broadly classified in two ways: felony and misdemeanor. One is serious while the other is somewhat mild. Treason and espionage can be categorized as a felony, especially in times of war. Offenses and other petty crimes are sub-classifications of misdemeanors. This paper discusses the five categories of criminal law violations prominent in the United States.

            Carlan, Nored, and Downey (2011) define the legal concept of felony as a crime in which the “authorized punishment is 1 year or more in a federal or state prison, or a fine” (p. 9). As it seems, Carlan et al. essentially categorize two key elements that comprise the notion of felony: (1) crime and (2) punishment. First, a felony is considered a crime. And one of the three components of the term “crime” is that it is a “commission of an act prohibited by law” (Carlan et al., 2011, p. 8). In contrast to thought or imagining, a crime is an act in itself. (An intention to commit a crime is arguably another element of the crime.) A person commits a crime only if he or she does something that is contrary to the law. Examples of crimes under the felony classification are manslaughter, murder, and rape (Sandbar, 2007, p. 517). And second, a felony constitutes a punishment. Besides the death penalty, the salient feature of punishment under a felony is the imprisonment of one year or more.

            A misdemeanor is another classification of crime. As opposed to a felony, the concept of a misdemeanor is broadly defined as a crime “lower than a felony and is generally punishable by fine or imprisonment” (as cited in Siegel, 2008, p. 143). Meaning to say, a misdemeanor is far from being a serious crime and, thus, its punishment is somewhat mild -- in particular, imprisonment as a punishment is usually less than a year. Further, a misdemeanor has many scales of seriousness -- e.g., petty and gross misdemeanors. The main difference between the notions of misdemeanor and felony is the seriousness of the crime. Siegel (2008) provides an example by stating that hitting someone with a fist is categorically a misdemeanor while hitting a person with a club is considered a felony (p. 146). Evidently, both cases (i.e., hitting) are crimes punishable by law. Nevertheless, they vary largely in the approach to committing the crime.

            The term “offense” such as petty offense is generally viewed as a subset of misdemeanor classification (Miller & Jentz, 2008, p. 182). Miller and Jentz (2008) define this legal concept as a minor violation; examples of petty offenses are jaywalking, and violation of the building code, among other offenses (p. 182). Obviously, offenses are far from serious crimes. What is interesting, though, about a petty offense is that it is considered a crime. Indeed, the willful violation of following the standard building code is a crime. It must be noted that a national building code is a law per se. Carlan et al. (2011) argued that one of the elements of a crime is the “omission of an act required by law” (p. 8). Thus, the omission of incorporating the guidelines, which are stipulated in the building code, in the design structure is, by definition, a crime.

            Treason and espionage are both crimes directed against national security (Scheb, 2009, p. 320). Despite their similarity, nonetheless, the notions of treason and espionage are substantially distinct. On one hand, the term “treason” is categorized as a serious crime committed when one levies “war against them” or adheres to their enemies such as “giving them aid and comfort” (as cited in Scheb, 2009, p. 320). That is to say, a person commits treason when he or she helps the enemy of the country in which he or she lives or serves. Scheb observes that no person has been tried and convicted of treason since World War II. In spite of the misconception of the treason verdict, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted not of treason but of espionage. On the other hand, the term “espionage” is defined as a crime that consists of “turning over state secrets to a foreign government” (Scheb, 2009, p. 321).

            The most fascinating crime is the crime called the inchoate offense. Serious crimes, such as felonies, require an action committed by a person. But inchoate offense is far from similar to felony and other high crimes. Brody, Acker, and Logan (2001) categorize the concept of inchoate offense as a crime in which the “law criminalizes behaviors that have not yet necessarily culminated in a tangible social harm” (p. 553). Conspiracy is an example of an inchoate offense.