A misdemeanor is a criminal offense more serious than an infraction but less severe than a felony, generally punishable by up to one year in jail. Under federal law, the line between the two is drawn by the maximum authorized prison term: one year or less makes it a misdemeanor, anything above makes it a felony. That single threshold determines where you serve time, whether you get a jury, and whether you walk away with a conviction that follows you into job applications, licensing boards, and immigration files for years.
How the Law Classifies Misdemeanors
The federal system sorts misdemeanors into three tiers based on the maximum imprisonment the offense carries. Class A covers offenses with a maximum of more than six months and up to one year. Class B runs from more than 30 days up to six months. Class C runs from more than five days up to 30 days. Anything with a maximum of five days or less, or no jail time at all, is an infraction rather than a misdemeanor.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3559 – Sentencing Classification of Offenses
Federal law also carves out a smaller category called “petty offenses,” which includes any Class B or Class C misdemeanor and any infraction. The label matters because petty offenses come with fewer procedural protections, most notably no automatic right to a jury trial.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 19 – Petty Offense Defined
Most states follow a similar structure, though the terminology differs. The one-year dividing line between misdemeanors and felonies is the most common state threshold. Some states cap their highest misdemeanor at 364 days rather than a full year, a one-day distinction that carries significant weight in immigration cases.3National Conference of State Legislatures. Misdemeanor Sentencing Trends States use alphabetical tiers like the federal system, numerical tiers (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3), or labels like “gross misdemeanor” or “petty misdemeanor” to rank offenses within the category.
Common Misdemeanor Offenses
Property crimes make up a large share of misdemeanor filings. Theft is charged as a misdemeanor when the value of the stolen property falls below a statutory threshold, commonly around $1,000. Shoplifting, bad checks for small amounts, and minor vandalism fit here. Cross the dollar threshold and the same conduct becomes a felony.
Public order offenses — disorderly conduct, public intoxication, trespassing, loitering — account for another large category. They tend to produce fines, community service, or short probation rather than jail time, but they still leave a criminal record.
Simple assault is the most common misdemeanor charge involving another person. It generally covers minor physical contact or conduct that puts someone in reasonable fear of imminent harm, without a weapon and without serious injury. Add a weapon or significant injuries and the charge usually escalates to aggravated assault, a felony.
A first-offense DUI is typically a misdemeanor in most jurisdictions, with potential jail time of up to one year, fines, license suspension, and mandatory community service or substance abuse programs. Reckless driving and driving on a suspended license are usually misdemeanors as well. Repeat DUIs and DUIs that cause injury often become felonies.
Wobbler Offenses
Some crimes don’t sit cleanly on one side of the line. These “wobblers” can be filed as either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the facts, the defendant’s criminal history, and the prosecutor’s judgment. Common wobblers include drug possession, certain theft charges, fraud, and some assault cases.
The prosecutor usually makes the initial charging decision. A first-time offender caught with a small amount of a controlled substance may face a misdemeanor; the same offense by someone with prior convictions may be filed as a felony. In some jurisdictions, judges can also reduce a felony wobbler to a misdemeanor at sentencing when the facts fall closer to the misdemeanor end. For defendants, the classification decision can mean the difference between probation and years in prison.
Penalties
People convicted of misdemeanors serve their time in local or county jails, not state or federal prisons. Jails house both pretrial detainees and people serving sentences under one year; prisons hold people serving the longer sentences that follow felony convictions.
Fines scale with the classification. Under federal law, a Class A misdemeanor can carry a fine of up to $100,000 for an individual. Class B and C misdemeanors cap at $5,000. If a misdemeanor results in someone’s death, the maximum fine jumps to $250,000.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3571 – Sentence of Fine State fine amounts are usually much lower, but the ranges vary widely enough that your actual exposure depends heavily on where the case is prosecuted.
Jail and fines get the attention, but most misdemeanor sentences involve probation, community service, or some mix of alternatives to incarceration. Misdemeanor probation typically runs one to two years and comes with conditions: obeying all laws, submitting to drug testing, paying restitution, reporting to a probation officer, and staying in the jurisdiction. Violating probation can land you back in front of a judge facing the original jail sentence.
Courts also pile on mandatory administrative fees, surcharges, and court costs, often from $60 to several hundred dollars. The real financial cost of a conviction is usually well above the fine itself. Judges can also order counseling, substance abuse treatment, or anger management as sentencing conditions.
Your Rights in a Misdemeanor Case
Jury Trial
The Sixth Amendment guarantees a jury trial for “serious” offenses, not petty ones. The Supreme Court set the line at six months: if your charge carries a maximum sentence of six months or less, the offense is presumed petty and you have no constitutional right to a jury. You can overcome that presumption only by showing that additional penalties like heavy fines or license revocations are severe enough to prove the legislature treated the offense as serious.5Justia U.S. Supreme Court. Blanton v. City of No. Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538 (1989) In practice, Class A misdemeanors trigger jury rights; Class B and C generally don’t.
Appointed Counsel
If you can’t afford a lawyer, the Constitution requires the court to appoint one, but only under specific conditions in misdemeanor cases. The Supreme Court held in 1972 that no person may be imprisoned for any offense, petty or otherwise, unless they were represented by counsel at trial.6Legal Information Institute. Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25 (1972) Seven years later, the Court narrowed the rule: the right to appointed counsel attaches only when imprisonment is actually imposed, not when it’s just a theoretical possibility.7Library of Congress. Scott v. Illinois, 440 U.S. 367 (1979) A judge who wants to sentence you to even one day in jail must first ensure you had access to counsel. Many judges avoid appointing counsel by taking jail off the table at the outset.
Collateral Consequences
The sentence a judge hands down is only part of what a conviction costs you. The criminal record itself triggers consequences in areas most people don’t anticipate until they’re in them.
Employment
Employers run background checks, and a misdemeanor conviction can take you out of the running. Under Title VII, an employer who uses criminal records to screen applicants must show the policy is job-related and consistent with business necessity, and the EEOC calls for an individualized assessment of the nature of the offense, the time that has passed, and the job sought.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions under Title VII On paper that is protective. In practice, many employers treat any conviction as a disqualifier and most applicants never challenge it.
Professional Licensing
If you hold or want a professional license — nursing, teaching, real estate, law — a misdemeanor conviction can complicate the process. Most licensing boards look at whether the offense is substantially related to the profession. A theft conviction may be disqualifying for an accountant but irrelevant for a commercial pilot. State law has trended toward limiting how boards use criminal records, but the rules vary by state and profession and the burden of navigating them falls on the applicant.
Firearms
One misdemeanor category carries a federal consequence that surprises almost everyone who encounters it. A conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence permanently prohibits you from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law. This applies everywhere in the country, with no expiration date and extremely limited exceptions.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
Immigration
For noncitizens, a misdemeanor conviction can be catastrophic. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a conviction for a “crime involving moral turpitude” — a category that includes fraud, larceny, and intent to harm — can make you inadmissible to the United States or deportable if you’re already here. A narrow petty offense exception exists: if the maximum penalty for the crime did not exceed one year and you were not sentenced to more than six months, a single conviction may not trigger inadmissibility.10U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 302.3 – Ineligibility Based on Criminal Activity Two or more convictions of any type with aggregate sentences of five years or more will make you ineligible regardless. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen should talk to an immigration attorney before pleading guilty to any misdemeanor.
Clearing a Misdemeanor From Your Record
Two mechanisms exist for cleaning up a misdemeanor record: expungement and sealing. Expungement deletes the record entirely; legally, the arrest and conviction no longer exist. Sealing leaves the record intact but blocks public access, with only a court order able to unseal it. Which option is available depends on your jurisdiction, the specific offense, and how much time has passed since you completed your sentence.
The typical waiting period before you can petition to clear a misdemeanor ranges from about 180 days to five years after completing the sentence. Filing generally requires a petition to the court where the original case was heard. If the court grants it, you may need to send copies of the order to every law enforcement agency that holds records related to the case.
A growing number of states have enacted “clean slate” laws that automatically seal eligible misdemeanor records after a waiting period, typically three to five years, without requiring you to file anything. The automatic process matters because most people eligible for traditional petition-based expungement never apply.
Statute of Limitations
Prosecutors don’t have unlimited time to file misdemeanor charges. Under federal law, the general statute of limitations for non-capital offenses is five years from the date the offense was committed.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3282 – Offenses Not Capital State limitations periods for misdemeanors are typically shorter, often one to three years depending on jurisdiction and offense type. Once the period expires, the government can no longer prosecute, regardless of the evidence. If charges are brought after the deadline, raising the statute of limitations is one of the most straightforward defenses in criminal law.