What Is a Violent Felony? Definition, Examples, and Consequences

A violent felony is a crime punishable by more than one year in prison that has, as an element, the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against another person. That’s the federal definition, and it’s the one that answers the question “what is a violent felony” in almost every legal context that matters: sentencing enhancements, firearm bans, immigration consequences, and jury eligibility. A short list of specific offenses — burglary, arson, extortion, and crimes involving explosives — also qualifies by name, even where force isn’t technically an element.¹

Where the Definition Comes From

The most frequently litigated federal definition sits in the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). Under the ACCA, a violent felony is any offense carrying more than a year of possible imprisonment that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against another person.¹ Lawyers call this the “elements clause.” Alongside it, the ACCA names a handful of “enumerated offenses” that qualify automatically: burglary, arson, extortion, and crimes involving explosives. Burglary made the list even though it doesn’t require a confrontation, because the risk of violence when someone enters an occupied building was enough for Congress to include it.

The ACCA used to have a third pathway called the “residual clause,” which swept in any felony that “otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury.” The Supreme Court struck that clause down in 2015 in Johnson v. United States as unconstitutionally vague, because judges had to imagine the “ordinary case” of a crime and guess at its risk level — a task that produced wildly inconsistent results.² What’s left is the elements clause plus the enumerated offenses.

The Court narrowed the definition again in 2021. In Borden v. United States, it held that crimes requiring only a reckless mental state don’t satisfy the elements clause; the “use of physical force” means at least knowing conduct.³ That ruling knocked many state aggravated-assault statutes out of the violent-felony category, because they can be committed recklessly.

“Violent Felony” Versus “Crime of Violence”

Federal law also uses a related but separate term, “crime of violence,” defined in 18 U.S.C. § 16. It covers any offense with an element involving the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against a person or property.⁴ The ACCA’s “violent felony” is narrower; it reaches force against people only.

The distinction matters most in immigration law. A crime of violence carrying at least a one-year sentence qualifies as an “aggravated felony” under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which is a ground for deportation and can permanently bar reentry.⁵ Section 16 originally had its own residual clause too, and the Supreme Court struck it down in 2018 in Sessions v. Dimaya for the same vagueness reasons it used in Johnson.⁶

Common Examples

Certain offenses consistently qualify as violent felonies in both federal and state systems. The specifics vary by jurisdiction, but the core group looks like this:

Murder and most forms of manslaughter. Attempted murder also qualifies, because attempted use of physical force is enough.
Sexual assault involving force or threats. Federal law specifically includes aggravated sexual abuse within its “serious violent felony” definition.⁷
Robbery, which takes property from a person through force or intimidation.
Aggravated assault, meaning an attack causing serious bodily injury or involving a deadly weapon. After Borden, however, state versions that reach reckless conduct may not qualify.
Kidnapping — forcibly taking or holding someone against their will.
Arson, which is on the ACCA’s enumerated list and qualifies regardless of whether the state statute requires force against a person.
Carjacking, which is essentially robbery of a vehicle.

Some offenses sit in a gray area. Domestic violence can be charged as a felony when it involves serious injury or a weapon, but whether a given state’s statute lines up with the federal elements clause depends on exactly what the statute requires. Burglary catches people off guard because it’s enumerated even though it doesn’t require a confrontation.

Why Actual Conduct Doesn’t Decide It

Here’s the counterintuitive part. When a federal court is deciding whether a prior conviction counts as a violent felony, it doesn’t look at what the defendant actually did. It uses the “categorical approach,” which examines only the legal elements of the offense — the minimum conduct a jury would have to find to convict.⁸ If a state’s assault statute covers conduct that wouldn’t satisfy the federal definition, the conviction doesn’t count, even when the defendant’s own behavior was extremely violent. When a state statute is “divisible” — covering multiple distinct offenses in one provision — courts can look at limited court records like the indictment or plea agreement to figure out which version the defendant was actually convicted of. This technical framework drives much of the federal litigation over violent-felony status.

Sentencing Enhancements for Repeat Offenders

The violent-felony label does its heaviest work in repeat-offender sentencing. Under the ACCA, a person convicted of illegally possessing a firearm who has three prior violent felony or serious drug offense convictions faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison. The judge cannot suspend the sentence or impose probation.¹ Without those priors, the maximum for illegal firearm possession would be 10 years, and most sentences would land well below that.

The federal three-strikes law goes further. Anyone convicted of a “serious violent felony” who already has two prior serious violent felony convictions, or one plus a serious drug offense, faces mandatory life imprisonment.⁷ “Serious violent felony” is a narrower list than the ACCA’s “violent felony,” covering murder, assault with intent to commit murder or rape, aggravated sexual abuse, robbery, kidnapping, and similar offenses.

States layer on their own enhancements. Truth-in-sentencing laws, encouraged by a 1994 federal grant program and adopted by most states, require people convicted of serious violent offenses to serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentence before becoming eligible for release.⁹ A 20-year sentence under those rules means at least 17 years behind bars, with none of the early-release mechanisms available for nonviolent convictions.

Consequences After Prison

Prison time ends. Much of what a violent felony conviction does to someone’s life does not. The following restrictions often matter more to daily life than the sentence itself.

Firearms

Federal law bars anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing firearms or ammunition.¹⁰ The ban applies to all felonies, not just violent ones, and lasts permanently unless civil rights are formally restored. Violating it is a federal felony on its own, and three prior violent felony convictions put the person right back inside ACCA’s 15-year minimum.

Voting and Jury Service

Felony disenfranchisement rules vary dramatically by state. A few states allow voting from prison. Some restore voting rights automatically on release. Others require completion of parole and probation first. And some permanently strip voting rights unless the government approves individual restoration. Federal courts separately disqualify anyone with a felony conviction from serving on a jury unless civil rights have been legally restored, and most state courts follow the same rule.¹¹

Immigration

For non-citizens, a violent felony conviction can be devastating. A crime of violence carrying at least a one-year sentence qualifies as an aggravated felony under the Immigration and Nationality Act, triggering deportation and indefinite inadmissibility to the United States.⁵ It applies regardless of how long the person has lived in the country or what family they have here.

Housing and Employment

Federal law does not impose a blanket ban on people with violent felony convictions living in public housing, but public housing agencies have broad discretion to set their own admission standards for applicants with criminal backgrounds, and many deny them.¹² On the employment side, background checks routinely surface these convictions, and many industries, especially those involving vulnerable populations, won’t hire applicants with violent felony records. Fair-chance hiring laws in some jurisdictions delay criminal history inquiries until later in the hiring process, but they don’t prohibit an employer from ultimately declining to hire based on a violent conviction.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 924 – Penalties
2
Justia Law. Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591 (2015)
3
Supreme Court of the United States. Borden v. United States (2021)
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 16 – Crime of Violence Defined
5
Congressional Research Service. Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity
6
Supreme Court of the United States. Sessions v. Dimaya (2018)
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3559 – Sentencing Classification of Offenses
8
United States Sentencing Commission. Primer on the Categorical Approach (2023)
9
National Institute of Justice. Truth in Sentencing and State Sentencing Practices
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
11
United States Courts. Juror Qualifications, Exemptions and Excuses
12
HUD Exchange. Are Applicants With Felonies Banned From Public Housing or Any Other Housing Funded by HUD?