List of Felonies: Federal Classes, Sentences, and Consequences

A list of felonies in the United States covers crimes punishable by more than one year in prison, and federal law sorts them into five classes based on the maximum sentence each one carries. Those classes run from Class A at the top (life or death) down to Class E (more than one year but less than five). Within that framework, felonies fall into recognizable categories: violent crimes, property crimes, drug offenses, white-collar crimes, and sex offenses, along with a small number of unique crimes like treason.

The Five Federal Felony Classes

When a federal criminal statute doesn’t set its own classification, 18 U.S.C. § 3559 assigns the offense a class based on the maximum prison term authorized:¹

Class A: life imprisonment or death. Murder and treason sit here.
Class B: 25 years or more. Large-scale drug trafficking is a typical example.
Class C: 10 to less than 25 years. Many fraud and firearms offenses land in this range.
Class D: 5 to less than 10 years. Some drug possession and theft offenses.
Class E: more than 1 year but less than 5. The lowest felony tier, just above the misdemeanor line.

Most states use a comparable system, either with letter grades or numbered degrees (first-degree being the most serious). Labels and ranges differ, but the underlying rule is the same everywhere: the higher the severity, the longer the possible sentence and the harsher the collateral consequences.

Violent Felonies

Violent felonies involve physical force or the threat of it, and they carry the heaviest penalties in both state and federal systems.

Murder. The FBI defines murder as the willful killing of one human being by another, excluding deaths caused by negligence or accidents.² Most jurisdictions split murder into first degree (premeditated) and second degree (intentional but not planned). Under the felony murder rule, which applies in most states and under federal law, a killing that occurs during the commission of another dangerous felony can be charged as murder even if no one intended for anyone to die. If someone dies during an armed robbery, every participant in the robbery can face a murder charge.

Aggravated assault. An attack intended to cause severe bodily injury, usually accompanied by a weapon or by force likely to cause death or serious harm.² A fistfight that leaves someone with a broken nose might be charged as misdemeanor simple assault; add a knife or a permanent injury and the same incident becomes a felony.

Robbery. Taking or attempting to take something of value from another person through force, threat, or intimidation.² The element of force is what separates robbery from theft. Armed robbery, which involves a weapon, typically carries significantly longer sentences.

Kidnapping. Seizing, confining, or carrying someone away by force or threat of force. Under the federal three-strikes law, kidnapping qualifies as a “serious violent felony” that can trigger mandatory life imprisonment for repeat offenders.¹

Property Felonies

Property crimes cross into felony territory based on the value of what was taken or the dangerousness of the method. Shoplifting a candy bar is a misdemeanor; stealing a car is a felony.

Grand theft (sometimes called grand larceny) involves stealing property above a threshold dollar amount, typically somewhere between $500 and $2,500 depending on the state. Below that threshold the same conduct is petty theft, a misdemeanor.

Burglary is entering a building or structure without authorization with the intent to commit a crime inside. Nothing has to actually be stolen; the unlawful entry combined with criminal intent is enough. Residential burglary is generally treated more harshly than commercial burglary.

Arson is deliberately setting fire to a building, vehicle, or other property. Federal law defines arson as maliciously damaging property by fire or explosives.¹ Even when no one is injured, arson is treated severely because of the risk to human life.

Felony vandalism involves intentionally destroying or damaging property above a certain dollar threshold. As with theft, the amount of damage decides whether the charge is a misdemeanor or a felony.

Drug Felonies

Federal law makes it illegal to manufacture, distribute, or possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.³ How serious a drug felony becomes depends heavily on the type and quantity of drug involved. Trafficking large amounts of heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine carries some of the longest mandatory minimum sentences in the federal system, in some cases 10 or 20 years without the possibility of parole.

Simple possession can be charged as a felony if the quantity suggests distribution rather than personal use, or if the substance is a Schedule I or II drug. Manufacturing or cultivating illegal drugs is almost always a felony regardless of quantity. State drug laws vary significantly: some states now treat small-quantity possession as a misdemeanor, while trafficking and manufacturing remain universally serious.

White-Collar Felonies

White-collar crimes use deception rather than force to produce financial gain. They don’t look like what most people picture when they hear “felony,” but the damage can run into millions of dollars and the sentences can be severe.

Fraud. Federal mail fraud carries up to 20 years in prison, or up to 30 years if the scheme affects a financial institution.⁴ Wire fraud, securities fraud, health care fraud, and tax fraud are all federal felonies prosecuted aggressively. Wire fraud alone accounts for a huge share of federal white-collar prosecutions.

Embezzlement. Someone entrusted with money or property diverts it for personal use. A company treasurer skimming from the operating account, or a financial advisor redirecting client funds, are classic examples. The felony threshold depends on the amount stolen.

Money laundering. Funneling illegally obtained money through legitimate-looking transactions to hide its origin. It commonly accompanies drug trafficking and organized crime, but it also shows up in fraud and tax evasion cases.

Sex Offenses and Treason

Sexual assault, child exploitation, and related offenses are among the most heavily punished felonies in both state and federal systems. Convictions almost always carry mandatory sex offender registration, which imposes lifelong restrictions on where a person can live and work.

Treason is the only crime specifically defined in the U.S. Constitution. Article III, Section 3 limits treason to levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to its enemies.⁵ The statutory penalty is death or a minimum of five years in prison plus a fine of at least $10,000, and anyone convicted is permanently barred from holding federal office.⁶ Prosecutions are extraordinarily rare, but the crime remains on the books as the most serious offense against the state.

When a Felony Could Be a Misdemeanor

Not every crime on the list above is automatically charged as a felony. Many offenses are “wobblers,” meaning a prosecutor can charge them either way depending on the circumstances. Assault, domestic violence, theft near the felony threshold, certain drug possession charges, and some fraud offenses commonly fall into this category.

Whether a wobbler is filed as a felony usually depends on the severity of the harm, the defendant’s criminal history, the dollar amount involved, and the specific facts. A defense attorney can sometimes persuade a prosecutor to file misdemeanor charges, or convince a judge to reduce a felony to a misdemeanor at sentencing. In some jurisdictions, a felony wobbler can even be reduced to a misdemeanor after the defendant completes probation. The practical gap is enormous, because a misdemeanor conviction avoids most of the long-term consequences described below.

Federal vs. State Felonies

Most criminal prosecutions happen at the state level. Murders, robberies, burglaries, drug offenses, and assaults are overwhelmingly tried in state court under state law. Federal prosecution kicks in when a crime crosses state lines, occurs on federal property, involves a federal agency, or violates a specific federal statute.⁷ Counterfeiting, interstate drug trafficking, terrorism, tax evasion, cybercrimes, and crimes on military bases or in national parks are common federal cases.

A single criminal act can violate both state and federal law, and both governments can prosecute it without triggering double jeopardy. This is the dual sovereignty doctrine, which the Supreme Court reaffirmed in Gamble v. United States (2018), upholding separate state and federal convictions for the same firearm possession. In practice, prosecutors usually coordinate to avoid duplicate cases, but nothing legally prevents parallel prosecutions.

Federal cases tend to involve longer investigations, more resources, and often longer sentences thanks to federal sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums. A drug trafficking charge that might yield a few years in state court can produce a decade or more federally.

How Felony Sentences Are Set

The class of felony sets the maximum sentence, but the actual sentence depends on more than that.

Guidelines and Mandatory Minimums

Federal judges use a sentencing table that cross-references the offense level (reflecting the seriousness of the crime and the defendant’s specific conduct) with the defendant’s criminal history category.⁸ The intersection produces a range in months. A first-time offender convicted of a lower-level felony might see 0 to 6 months; someone with extensive history convicted of a serious offense could see decades. Judges can depart from the range for aggravating factors (vulnerable victims, exceptional harm) or mitigating ones (minimal history, substantial cooperation).

Some felonies carry mandatory minimums that override the guidelines. Drug trafficking is the most common trigger, with 10- or 20-year floors for large quantities of certain drugs. Federal firearms offenses tied to drug trafficking or violent crimes add mandatory time on top of the underlying sentence. The federal three-strikes rule imposes mandatory life imprisonment on anyone convicted of a serious violent felony who already has two or more prior convictions for serious violent felonies or serious drug offenses.¹ Qualifying offenses include murder, robbery, kidnapping, arson, extortion, and certain sexual assaults. Many states have their own habitual offender laws with similar or broader reach.

Fines and Restitution

Prison time gets most of the attention, but felony convictions carry significant financial penalties too. The general federal fine for an individual convicted of a felony is up to $250,000.⁹ If the crime produces financial gain or causes financial loss, the fine can jump to twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss, whichever is greater. For organizations, the baseline cap is $500,000.

Federal judges must also order restitution for crimes of violence, property offenses, and certain other categories.¹⁰ Restitution covers the victim’s actual losses: medical expenses, lost income, damaged or stolen property. Unlike fines paid to the government, restitution goes directly to the people harmed.

Consequences Beyond Prison

The prison sentence is only part of what a felony conviction costs. The collateral consequences often matter more in the years after release.

Firearms

Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing any firearm or ammunition.¹¹ This is a lifetime ban, and violating it is itself a separate felony. A presidential pardon or a state restoration of civil rights can lift the prohibition in some circumstances, but the process is difficult.¹²

Voting Rights

The effect on voting depends entirely on where you live. A few states never revoke voting rights, even during incarceration. Others restore them automatically on release. Some require completion of parole and probation first, and a handful impose permanent disenfranchisement for certain offenses unless the governor grants clemency. The general direction over the past two decades has been toward restoring rights sooner.¹³

Employment and Professional Licensing

This is where most people feel the weight of a felony conviction for years. Federal law bars anyone with a conviction involving dishonesty, fraud, or money laundering from working in the banking industry for ten years unless the FDIC grants a waiver. Certain transportation credentials are permanently off-limits to people convicted of espionage, treason, murder, or terrorism. Federal security clearances, required for many government and contractor jobs, are routinely denied based on criminal records.¹⁴

Many state-issued professional licenses in fields like health care, law, education, real estate, and finance either require disclosure of felony convictions or impose outright bars. Even for jobs without licensing requirements, private employers commonly run background checks. Federal anti-discrimination guidance directs employers to consider the nature and severity of the offense rather than applying blanket bans, but in practice, a felony conviction narrows the job market considerably.

Housing

Landlords routinely screen applicants for criminal history, and a felony conviction can lead to denial. Federal fair housing guidance prohibits using arrest records alone (as opposed to convictions) to deny housing, and blanket policies that reject every applicant with any criminal record may violate the Fair Housing Act when they disproportionately affect protected classes. Public housing authorities have some discretion, but people convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine on public housing premises or required to register as sex offenders face mandatory exclusions.

Clearing a Felony Record

Federal felony convictions are notoriously difficult to clear. There is no general federal expungement statute, so most federal convictions remain on a person’s record permanently. The main path to relief is a presidential pardon, which requires that the applicant has been released from prison for at least five years (or sentenced at least five years ago if no prison term was imposed) and currently lives in the United States.

State felony convictions offer more options. Many states have enacted expungement or record-sealing laws that let people who have completed their sentences and stayed crime-free for a specified period petition the court for relief. Eligibility, waiting periods, and qualifying offenses vary enormously. Violent felonies and sex offenses are almost universally excluded. Filing fees range from nothing to several hundred dollars depending on the jurisdiction.

Even when a record is sealed or expunged, certain government agencies and law enforcement databases may still have access to it. A sealed conviction generally won’t appear on a standard employer background check, but it can still surface in security clearance investigations or law enforcement job applications. Record clearing is a meaningful step, not a complete erasure.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3559 – Sentencing Classification of Offenses
2
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Offense Definitions
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 841 – Prohibited Acts A
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1341 – Frauds and Swindles
5
Library of Congress. Article III Section 3
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2381 – Treason
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC Chapter 211 – Jurisdiction and Venue
8
United States Sentencing Commission. Sentencing Table – 2024 Guidelines Manual
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3571 – Sentence of Fine
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3663A – Mandatory Restitution to Victims of Certain Crimes
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
12
United States Department of Justice Archives. Criminal Resource Manual 1435 – Post-Conviction Restoration of Civil Rights
13
Office of Justice Programs. Civil and Constitutional Rights of Convicted Felons
14
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII