Talk:Felony

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  1. March 2002 – March 2006

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[edit] Post-conviction: Jury duty and voting rights

"A civil sanction imposed on U.S. 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. ... However the convicted person may regain his ability to serve as a juror and vote as part of a general restoration of civil rights following completion of sentence."

  • This text is ambiguous leaves it unclear as to whether voting rights are or are not restored after the sentence is served. If it varies it should say so. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.19.57.138 (talk • contribs)
    • I have tagged this article for Template:Contradict as the article doesn't carefully distinguish the circumstances in which a convicted Felon may have the right to serve on a jury or to vote in elections. More information and/or clarification is needed.--Ted 19:17, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
      • I'm not sure, but I believe one can apply to have their rights re-instated after the completion of the sentence, which may be what this is referring to. --71.225.229.151 19:29, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
        • Whether a person convicted of a felony will be disenfranchised differs by state. See http://www.righttovote.org/state.asp for a partial summary of the law in each state. I don't know how to edit the article correctly. 138.88.30.139 16:26, 30 April 2006 (UTC)Ace
    • I belive an incomplete encyclopedia is better than a contradicting one, i'll remove the offending paragraph until it is clear what needs to be written. If you know for sure if one can aply to have your civil rights restored post your sources here, i can do the editing if that's the problem. --Requiem the 18th(email) 06:54, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suspicious source

The following section has been commented from the article: United States jurisdictions retaining the distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor sometimes divide felonies into classes, e.g. class A felony, class B felony, etc. In some cases, at least in North Carolina, a misdemeanor can turn into a felony: "If a misdemeanor offense as to which no specific punishment is prescribed be infamous, done in secrecy and malice, or with deceit and intent to defraud, the offender shall, except where the offense is a conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, be guilty of a Class H felony." From http://www.jus.state.nc.us/ncja/stmar95.htm

The reason? the citation, http://www.jus.state.nc.us/ncja/stmar95.htm is very suspicious, not only the URL seems to be from an university webhosting, the root page http://www.jus.state.nc.us is not functional. How come? --Requiem the 18th(email)


[edit] Voting Rights

"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."

While laws restricting the voting rights of convicted felons is certainly controversial, the above staement is not correct. The Fifteenth Amendment does not explicity sanction voting disabilities applied to felons. The Fifteenth Amendment ONLY explicitly prohibits the United States or any State from enacting laws which deny or restrict the right to vote on the basis of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". The Nineteenth Amendment is similar in nature and prohibits laws which deny or restrict the right to vote on the basis of sex. The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits laws which deny or restrict the right to vote "by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax". The Twenty-sixth Amendment prohibits laws which deny or restrict the right to vote on the basis of age and sets the minimum voting age to 18 years.

Other than the restrictions explicitly set out in the above constitutional ammendments, the States can regulate voting in any way that they see fit.216.138.14.176 02:22, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Self-Payable record expunged?

"Theoretically, federal law allows persons convicted of felonies in a federal United States district court to apply to have their record expunged [...] 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."

[edit] Felonies in Massachusetts

The statement about imprisonment for felonies and misdemeanors in Massachusetts misinterprets the section of the Massachusetts General Laws which it cites. While those convicted of misdemeanors cannot be placed in the state penitentiary, as the law section notes, they may be (and frequently are) required to serve sentences in county jails. As such, I have deleted the statement, as this is not a particularly notable fact about felonies in Massachusetts (whereas, if it were in fact true that misdemeanors never carry jail time, that would be notable.)

That sounds like there WOULD be a way to do so, like paying some "fee" to the relevant district court, to cover the costs of the processing. Is there? Archangel Michael 16:27, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Hi guys. This article looks very Angloamerican in content. I wonder if anyone here knows of good "world" sources on law. Perhaps something more theoretical could be applied? I'll have a look round the law library, but I'd be grateful for some ideas here. CSIvor 09:48, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
(The above user is a sock of blocked user user:HeadleyDown -- see Arbcom page for list of socks, blocks and bans. FT2 (Talk | email) 11:23, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Third degree"

I'm looking for information about exactly what the crime "Rape 3" entails, and all I've figured out is that the third degree is the least severe classification of any given felony. I can't find any more detailed info than that, either here or in the various rape articles. Does WP have info on it? Should something be added? And can anybody tell me what "Rape 3" is? --Masamage ♫ 02:47, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm pulling this from my watchlist. Please pop me a talk page message if you know. --Masamage ♫ 02:10, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] cannabis cultivation

In USA, cannabis cultivation is in same category as murder? That is so ridiculous...

Not quite. Both can be felonies, but murder is usually a capital crime or Class A (or 1) felony, in states that have classes of felonies, while growing marijuana is in a lower class, or sometimes a misdemeanor, depending on how many plants are grown. In states that don't have classes of crimes, both are felonies, but the specific laws for each crime will specify the permitted sentence. And sign your posts. PaulGS 16:10, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Frustrated Father

Eight years ago my wife got a federal felony charge for meth.. She has served 18 months and we have turned our lives around since. We have two boys 15,13 that are going elk hunting this year with me so I purchased a rifle. The only problem is that I have to keep it at my fathers house 40 miles away. Can anyone point me in the right direction for the correct interpretation for what being in possession is. It seems to me that the boys and I should be to keep our guns here at the house so long as my wife doesn't leave here with them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.82.9.79 (talk) 03:04, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Only your attorney can answer this question competently. I strongly suggest that you disregard any other advice you read here. Simishag 06:16, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
Simishag is absolutely correct. Consult an attorney. DO NOT listen to or take advice of anyone on sites like this, as nothing about this particular area of the law is "common knowledge" even though people tend to hypothesize about it. I will say that you are addressing an oft-encountered gray area of the law that is wide-open "test case territory" in many states. If you're willing to be "the tested" or not will depend on how you should proceed. Beware. --LoverOfArt (talk) 01:58, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Expungement

The article makes mention about a 'theoretical' federal felony expungement procedure that is unavailable due to a lack of funding. I am unaware of any such procedure. Even a Presidential Pardon does not afford expungement. I do know that there was a similar procedure for relief from Federal firearms disabilities that was defunded in 1992 (and as such, effectively disallowing the process, thus, persons convicted of Federal felonies cannot ever obtain firearms disability relief short of a pardon) but I am unaware of any such procedures for federal felony record expungement in general. Can anyone elaborate on this? If not, I think it warrants deletion as inaccurate information. --LoverOfArt (talk) 02:09, 21 December 2007 (UTC)