What Are the Levels of a Federal Crime Conviction?

Federal crimes are sorted into nine levels of conviction based on the maximum prison sentence the offense carries, running from Class A felonies at the top (life in prison or death) down to infractions at the bottom (five days or less, or no jail at all).¹ The class a crime falls into sets the ceiling for imprisonment, the maximum fine, and the length of supervised release that can follow a prison term. It does not, by itself, tell you the sentence a judge will actually impose.

The Nine Levels

If a federal statute labels its offense with a letter grade, that label controls. When it doesn’t, the court takes the maximum prison term the statute authorizes and reads it against this scale:¹

Class A felony: life imprisonment or death
Class B felony: 25 years or more
Class C felony: 10 to less than 25 years
Class D felony: 5 to less than 10 years
Class E felony: more than 1 year but less than 5 years
Class A misdemeanor: more than 6 months up to 1 year
Class B misdemeanor: more than 30 days up to 6 months
Class C misdemeanor: more than 5 days up to 30 days
Infraction: 5 days or less, or no imprisonment at all

Two numbers do most of the work here. The first is five years, which separates the lower felony tiers from one another. The second, and more important, is one year. Anything punishable by more than a year is a federal felony. Anything at a year or below is a misdemeanor or infraction. That cutoff is what the firearms ban and most other collateral consequences key off, not the specific letter grade.

Maximum Fines by Level

Each level also caps the fine a court can impose on an individual. A specific offense statute can set a higher number, but these are the defaults:²

Any felony: up to $250,000
Misdemeanor resulting in death: up to $250,000
Class A misdemeanor (no death): up to $100,000
Class B or C misdemeanor (no death): up to $5,000
Infraction: up to $5,000

Organizations face higher caps. A corporate defendant convicted of a felony can be fined up to $500,000, with the number rising if the offense statute specifies more or if the defendant gained more than $250,000 from the crime.²

Supervised Release and Probation Eligibility

Federal sentences typically do not end at the prison gate. Courts attach a term of supervised release that begins on the day of release, and the maximum length depends on the felony class:³

Class A or B felony: up to 5 years
Class C or D felony: up to 3 years
Class E felony or misdemeanor: up to 1 year

Supervised release carries conditions. Drug testing, travel restrictions, and regular reporting to a probation officer are common, and violating any of them can send a person back to prison.

Probation is a different option, used in lieu of prison for less serious cases. Federal law permits probation for any offense except Class A and Class B felonies and offenses where a statute specifically forbids it.⁴ Defendants convicted of a Class C, D, or E felony, or of any misdemeanor or infraction, are at least eligible, though whether a judge grants probation depends on the guidelines and the facts of the case.

Why the Class Is Not the Sentence

The classification level sets the statutory ceiling. The actual sentence comes out of a separate system: the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Every offense gets a base offense level on a 43-point scale, which is then adjusted up or down for things like the amount of financial loss, whether a weapon was involved, whether the defendant led the operation, and whether the defendant obstructed justice.⁵ Accepting responsibility and pleading guilty can cut the number by two or three levels. The final level is then matched against the defendant’s criminal history category, from I for a first offender to VI for an extensive record, on a sentencing table that produces a recommended range in months.

Since the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in United States v. Booker, those guidelines are advisory.⁶ A judge must calculate the range as a starting point and then weigh the seriousness of the offense, the defendant’s history, deterrence, and the need to avoid unwarranted disparities before deciding where to land.⁷ Most sentences come in at or near the guideline range, but departures above and below are common. The statutory maximum tied to the classification level is almost never the number a defendant actually receives.

Mandatory minimums work in the other direction. Certain offenses, concentrated in drug trafficking and firearms, carry minimum prison terms that override a lower guideline calculation. In fiscal year 2024, more than 57 percent of individuals sentenced for federal drug offenses faced a mandatory minimum, and more than 81 percent of those convicted under the main federal firearms statute remained subject to one at sentencing. Two routes allow a sentence below the minimum: substantial assistance to prosecutors, which requires a government motion, and the statutory “safety valve” for certain low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with limited criminal history. About 37 percent of defendants facing a mandatory minimum received some form of relief from it in 2024.⁸

What a Felony Conviction Triggers Regardless of Class

For most purposes outside the courtroom, the specific letter grade matters less than whether the conviction is a felony at all. A long list of civil restrictions attaches the moment someone has a federal felony on their record.

The federal firearms ban is the clearest example. Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing, shipping, or receiving any firearm or ammunition.⁹ The trigger is whether the offense was punishable by more than a year, not the sentence actually imposed, so every federal felony qualifies. Violating the ban is a separate federal offense carrying up to 10 years.

Beyond firearms, a federal felony can disqualify someone from certain professional licenses, government contracts, federal financial aid for higher education (specifically for drug convictions), and employment that depends on a clean background check.¹⁰ The National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction catalogs more than 44,000 such restrictions across federal and state law, with over 19,000 tied to employment alone. A Class E felony and a Class C felony generally sit in the same bucket for these purposes.

Voting is the exception to the pattern. Federal law does not impose a blanket ban on voting after a felony conviction. Eligibility is set by the state where you live, and the rules vary widely: some states restore voting rights automatically on release from prison, some wait until probation or parole is complete, and a few restrict certain offenders indefinitely. A federal conviction sends you to your state’s rules, not to a single federal answer.

One more boundary worth stating. Federal convictions cannot be erased through any routine court process; there is no general federal expungement statute. The main path to relief after appeals run out is presidential clemency through the Office of the Pardon Attorney, which is discretionary and historically granted at low rates.¹¹ For practical planning, the classification level and the consequences it carries should be treated as permanent.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3559 – Sentencing Classification of Offenses
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3583 – Inclusion of a Term of Supervised Release After Imprisonment
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3561 – Sentence of Probation
5
United States Sentencing Commission. An Overview of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines
6
United States Sentencing Commission. Annotated 2025 Chapter 1
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3553 – Imposition of a Sentence
8
United States Sentencing Commission. Mandatory Minimum Penalties
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
10
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Collateral Consequences: The Crossroads of Punishment, Redemption, and the Effects on Communities
11
Office of the Pardon Attorney. How Clemency Works