felony rioting

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</div>promote 2nd 920 on desantis fla<div>
</div><div>see j20<div>dapl?</div><div>
</div><div>this is a generic node for felony but also bogus one used to suppress activists and voters ( see 2 oops disenfranchise) , legal suppression
<div>=</div><div>ironically not used vs insurrection? tresspass?</div><div>to get back in djt good graces?<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/florida-gov-desantis-just-proposed-a-dangerous-bill-to-imperil-and-silence-protesters/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/florida-gov-desantis-just-proposed-a-dangerous-bill-to-imperil-and-silence-protesters/</a>no lnx twt docs
florida Gov. DeSantis just proposed a dangerous bill to imperil and silence protestersWritten by Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams September 21, 2020The American Civil Liberties Union joined Florida Democrats on Monday in condemning a proposed bill by Gov. Ron DeSantis that would newly classify certain forms of protest as felonies and impose harsh penalties on some protesters.Flanked by Republican lawmakers and law enforcement officials at an afternoon press conference in Winter Haven, DeSantis referred to Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon as he announced the proposed legislation.“I look at what goes on in Portland. They’ll have people, they’ll arrest them,” DeSantis said. “They’re all scraggly-looking Antifa-types. They get their mugshot taken, then they get released. It’s like a carousel; on and on it goes.”“That’s not going to happen in here in Florida,” the governor vowed.The “Combatting Violence, Disorder, and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act” would make it a felony to “obstruct traffic during an unpermitted protest,” while absolving motorists of liability for “injury or death caused if fleeing for safety from a mob.” It would also make it a felony for anyone gathered in a group of seven or more people “to cause damage to property or injury to other persons,” or to “destroy public property” or topple monuments. Jailed protesters will not be granted bail until at least their first court appearance.The proposed bill levies mandatory minimum prison sentences for striking law enforcement officers, including with projectiles, and contains an enhancement for throwing objects that strike officers or civilians, and for out-of-state protesters who even participate in a demonstration that turns violent.Furthermore, the measure attaches Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) liability to “anyone who organizes or funds a violent or disorderly assembly.” It also contains provisions barring state grants to municipalities that defund police, and terminates state benefits to anyone “convicted of participating in a violent or disorderly assembly.”State Democratic leaders decried the governor’s proposed bill. “The governor is attaching himself to [President] Donald Trump’s propaganda and manufacturing a non-existent law and order crisis in Florida,” said state Senate Democratic Leader Audrey Gibson. “It’s political fear-mongering to bolster a president’s re-election bid.”“Non-violent protest has been a critical and basic principle of this nation, and has repeatedly changed the course of history for the better,” said state Sen. Bobby Powell. “The governor’s proposal has nothing to do with safeguarding that right. This crackdown is just that—a government sledgehammer to permanently silence opposing voices.”“The governor could not name a single city, a single town, or a single community in Florida that was the victim of violent protests, because there has been none,” said state Sen. Perry Thurston. “The governor is attempting to link calls for justice to calls for anarchy, without any evidence to support such a claim.”“This is using a problem from somewhere else to strip the liberty of people in this state to voice their constitutional right to peacefully dissent,” added Thurston. “And it’s the latest in a long line of efforts to quash the people’s ability to demand change when the government refuses to listen.”The ACLU of Florida also condemned the proposed legislation.“Gov. DeSantis’ proposal is undemocratic and hostile to Americans’ shared values,” said Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. “This effort has one goal: silence, criminalize, and penalize Floridians who want to see justice for Black lives lost to racialized violence and brutality at the hands of law enforcement.”According to the U.S. Crisis Monitor—a joint project between the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) and the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University—over 93% of this year’s racial justice protests have been peaceful.DeSantis’ proposed bill came on the same day that the U.S. Department of Justice designated New York City, Seattle, and Portland—where anti-racism demonstrations continued 119 days after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd—as “anarchist jurisdictions.”</div><div></div><div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/08/27/black-lives-matter-protesters-terrorism-felony-charges">https://theintercept.com/2020/08/27/black-lives-matter-protesters-terrorism-felony-charges</a></div><div>
</div><div>prOSECUTORS AND LAWMAKERS in several states have responded to mass protests against police brutality by charging demonstrators with committing felonies, including terrorism charges. The trend of criminalizing protest has been on the uptick since the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock, during and after which numerous states <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/02/02/ohio-iowa-pipeline-protest-critical-infrastructure-bills/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">upped</a> charges for protests “near critical infrastructure” as felonies. </div><div>
</div><div data-reactid="217" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Since 2016, 14 states have enacted new laws to restrict the right to peaceful assembly, <a href="https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/?location=&status=enacted&issue=&date=&type=legislative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">according to</a> the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which tracks related state and federal legislation. But in the wake of the nationwide movement in support of Black lives, numerous states have increased the severity of criminal penalties for protesters along political lines and are prosecuting them more aggressively, as demonstrations continue with no sign of slowing down.just last week, following more than 60 days of demonstrations outside the State Capitol, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a law that made it a felony to participate in some types of protests, including camping out overnight on state property. Charges for the same activity were previously classified as a misdemeanor. In Tennessee, people convicted of felonies lose their voting rights — making the new law a tool for disenfranchisement. </div><div data-reactid="228" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Earlier this month, police in Muscatine, Iowa, apprehended two people they say were attempting to drive a vehicle into the city Public Safety Building and got stuck on a planter. They charged both men with numerous counts, including <a href="https://qctimes.com/muscatine/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-charged-with-terrorism-in-muscatine-after-early-morning-incident/article_62fb2b2b-2f33-5638-a2a0-09297813ac00.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">terrorism</a>. That follows an Oklahoma district attorney’s pursuit of terrorism charges against five young people, including three teenagers and two people in their 20s. The fourth-term prosecutor also threw felony charges at numerous other people in relation to protests and damage to local and police property in late May. The terrorism charges reveal a “false equivalency between people who kill, and people who commit acts of property damage,” said Kate Chatfield, policy director at the Justice Collaborative, a policy and media organization focused on mass criminalization and incarceration. “Maybe not a great thing.” “To say that the power of the state will be wielded in this way against political enemies is incredibly frightening,” Chatfield said, drawing a parallel to the post-9/11 era, when many people who had never committed an act of violence <a href="https://trial-and-terror.theintercept.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">were prosecuted for terrorism</a>. “Let’s not ignore the fact that we have a history of this in this country. A very recent history. And a continuing history, unfortunately.”The nationwide protests prompted by George Floyd’s killing have continued through the summer, though at a lower intensity over the last month — before picking back up this week. Streets across the country swelled with demonstrators after police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake in the back seven times, in front of his children. Blake is paralyzed from the waist down, his father <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/25/21400481/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-shooting-riots-evanston" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">told</a> the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday. Protesters <a href="https://twitter.com/ViNguyen/status/1298332008565952512?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">burned</a> down a state Department of Corrections <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2020/08/25/this-numbing-arson-and-damage-devastates-kenosha-businesses/3434651001/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">building</a> on Monday. The following night, armed white members of a militia group organized counterdemonstrations to protect local property. Video footage from Kenosha <a href="https://twitter.com/MalaikaJabali/status/1298587032244097030?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">shows</a> the militia members chatting with the police. Shortly after the video was captured, one member of the militia <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/26/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-protests/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">shot</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/watch-live-kenosha-authorities-hold-news-conference-at-1-p-m/2328961/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">killed</a> two protesters, and left a third in serious condition. Police <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/us/kenosha-shooting-protests-jacob-blake.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">arrested</a> 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse in Illinois on Wednesday and charged him with first-degree intentional homicide. “When you hear our president talk about Black Lives Matter as a terrorist organization, or antifa as a terrorist organization, it is the kind of thing that — his statement holds no weight in law, but it sends a message to prosecutors like this that they’ll be supported,” said Thomas Harvey, justice project director at the Advancement Project, a non-profit civil rights group. “And even more frighteningly, I think it sends a message to people like the militia members we saw in Kenosha, and gives them the state and the latitude to commit even more violence than what we see on a daily basis in this country against black and brown folks.”IN SOME STATES where police have charged protesters en masse with felonies, prosecutors have swiftly dropped them, calling into question the reasoning behind the original charges. In Louisville, Kentucky, police arrested 87 protesters who had staged a sit-in on the lawn of a home belonging to state Attorney General Daniel Cameron last month — part of an ongoing  call for accountability in the killing of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old EMT whom three Louisville police officers shot at least <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">eight times</a> inside her home in March. (The officers were acting on a no-knock warrant in connection with a suspect who did not live at Taylor’s residence. The police department fired one of the three officers who were involved in June. Local activists including Louisville Black Lives Matter <a href="https://www.leoweekly.com/2020/05/black-lives-matter-calls-transparent-investigation-breonna-taylor-shooting/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">worked</a> with Taylor’s family to develop a list of <a href="https://justiceforbreonna.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">demands</a>, including firing, charging, and convicting the three officers.) Three days later, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell dismissed the felony charges and said his office would consider misdemeanors and other violations for prosecution at a later date. On Tuesday, Louisville police <a href="https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/porsha-williams-louisville-breonna-taylor-yandy-smith-protests/417-367e1eaa-7456-490f-9e44-528d5d4a64d1" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">arrested</a> another 68 protesters and <a href="https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/porsha-williams-louisville-breonna-taylor-yandy-smith-protests/417-367e1eaa-7456-490f-9e44-528d5d4a64d1" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">charged</a> them with obstructing a highway and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors.</div><div data-reactid="232" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Earlier this month in Washington, D.C., police <a href="https://wtop.com/dc/2020/08/at-least-1-arrest-made-as-dc-police-form-perimeter-around-protesters-near-adams-morgan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">arrested</a> 41 protesters in the Adams Morgan neighborhood on charges of felony rioting and assaulting police officers. The Metropolitan Police Department said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/DCPoliceDept/status/1294236700995203073?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">tweet</a> on August 14 that it only arrested people “engaged in rioting behaviors.” Between May 30 and June 1, District police arrested more than 100 people on charges of burglary, destroying property, and violating curfew, including at least 40 charges of felony rioting. Prosecutors <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/prosecutors-drop-many-rioting-charges-as-dozens-charged-in-dc-protests-appear-in-court/2020/06/01/b581d5d2-a38b-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">dropped</a> most of the charges in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/demonstrators-and-dc-police-clash-during-march-in-meridian-hill-and-adams-morgan-neighborhoods/2020/08/14/38dc80be-de4f-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">both</a> sets of arrests.In Salt Lake City on Friday, a judge <a href="https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/8/21/21396666/charges-reduced-in-protest-that-damaged-salt-lake-county-district-attorneys-office" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">dropped</a> possible life sentence charges facing protesters who poured paint, broke windows, and posted signs at the District Attorney’s Office building, reducing some charges to lower-class felonies and misdemeanors. In June, West Valley police and FBI agents <a href="https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/6/2/21278158/two-men-numerous-guns-headed-to-salt-lake-city-protests-police-west-valley-arrested-saved-lives" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">arrested</a> two men in Salt Lake who had allegedly threatened officers and were headed to protests armed with multiple weapons. Prosecutors later <a href="https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/6/18/21295830/man-terrorism-charge-allegedly-threatening-police-trying-to-take-guns-to-protest-salt-lake-city" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">charged</a> one man with terrorism. Also in early June, police officers in Columbia, South Carolina, <a href="https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article244051357.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">arrested</a> more than 80 protesters and charged three men with instigating a riot, typically a low-level felony or misdemeanor. Elected officials participating in the protest have also been caught in the crackdown. In Portsmouth, Virginia, on Monday, sheriff’s deputies delivered a summons charge to the vice mayor, after a resident pressed misdemeanor <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/portsmouth_n_5f43dec4c5b6c00d03b20ca2" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">criminal charges</a> against her for calling on the Portsmouth police chief to resign. Earlier this month, police brought <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-sen-l-louise-lucas-charged-with-felonies-over-portsmouth-confederate-monument-protest/2020/08/17/84fd4bf6-e0c8-11ea-8181-606e603bb1c4_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">felony charges</a> against the Virginia State Senate pro tempore, a local school board member, local NAACP leaders, and public defenders for injury to a monument and conspiracy, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/portsmouth-police-confederate-stephanie-morales_n_5f3bf494c5b6b1015127f1bd" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">in relation</a> to the destruction of confederate statues in June.Federal authorities have also carried out their own crackdown on demonstrations, arresting protesters in <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/07/25/portland-federal-agents-antifa-border/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Portland, Oregon,</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/29/nypd-van-arrest-protest/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">New York City</a> in recent months. The FBI has opened some 300 domestic terrorism investigations since late May. Last year, according to the agency, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/454338-fbis-wray-says-majority-of-domestic-terrorism-arrests-this-year" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">most</a> federal arrests for domestic terrorism involved white supremacy, though the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit has also investigated a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/03/23/black-identity-extremist-fbi-domestic-terrorism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">fictional “black identity extremists” movement</a>. The FBI has also quietly <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">investigated</a> white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement in recent years, The Intercept reported. AMONG THE MOST serious recent charges against protesters are those of terrorism in Oklahoma.  There, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater charged three teenagers and two other people in their 20s with terrorism related to their alleged activity during protests in late May. “We found it especially inappropriate — and unconstitutional — because it was made with the explicit purpose of silencing protesters who are standing up for Black lives,” American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma Staff Attorney Megan Lambert told The Intercept, regarding the recent terrorism charges. “We didn’t even see terrorism charges for the Murrah bombing,” she added, referring to the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City.</div><a class="InstreamPromo InstreamPromo--promo" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/protests-for-black-lives/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); display: block; margin: 40px 0px 40px -20px; padding: 20px 0px; width: auto !important;">Read Our Complete CoverageProtests for Black Lives</a><div data-reactid="234" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The terrorism charges, which were filed in <a href="https://oklahoman.com/article/5665507/protesters-charged-with-terrorism-rioting-assault" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">June</a> and <a href="https://oklahoman.com/article/5666525/two-more-charged-with-terrorism" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">July</a>, stem from allegations that protesters set fire to a sheriff’s van and caused damage to a local bail bond business. Last month, Prater charged two other teenagers with terrorism in connection to demonstrations at the end of May, bringing the total to five. The DA also charged multiple people with rioting, assaulting officers, and at least five others for incitement to riot for painting murals in the city’s downtown area in June. Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair Alicia Andrews, the ACLU of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City Black Lives Matter founder and Executive Director Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson slammed Prater’s move, saying that the charges of terrorism were far too harsh. During a press conference early last month, Andrews <a href="https://okdemocrats.org/oklahoma-democratic-party-denounces-d-a-praters-unequal-justice-in-press-conference/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> she didn’t condone vandalism or destruction of property but that Prater was using the charges to silence protesters. “‘Use your First Amendment right in a way that we don’t like, and we will ruin your future.’ These charges are an attempt to send a message, ‘We’re tired of hearing about Black lives,’” she said. Prater took office in 2007 and is currently serving his fourth term as DA. His current term ends in 2023. He started his career in law enforcement at age 19 as a deputy sheriff, according to his <a href="https://www.oklahomacounty.org/Directory.aspx?EID=100" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">bio</a>. “These people are speaking out against violence that Prater himself has largely been complicit in,” Lambert said. “This is just another example in a pattern from David Prater’s office of upholding white supremacy.” Prater’s office did not respond to a request for comment.</div><div data-reactid="238" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Last May, Prater declined to charge officers who <a href="https://okcfox.com/news/local/officer-who-killed-isaiah-lewis-will-not-be-charged" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">killed</a> 17-year-old <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/oklahoma-police-shooting-naked-teen" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Isaiah Lewis</a>, who was in the middle of a mental health <a href="https://twitter.com/RepKendraHorn/status/1267897922517118976?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">crisis</a> when police shot him in Edmond. Over the last few months, local activists have brought renewed attention to Lewis’s killing, which has been a <a href="https://oklahoman.com/article/5664046/edmond-protesters-recall-isaiah-lewis-death" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">focus</a> of some demonstrations in the area. Other cases have gotten less attention, Dickerson pointed out. Derrick Scott, 42, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/i-can-t-breathe-oklahoma-man-tells-police-dying-i-n1229586" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">died</a> last May after being apprehended and restrained by Oklahoma City police. In video footage of the arrest released in June, Scott <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/derrick-scott-oklahoma-i-cant-breathe.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">tells</a> officers he can’t breathe and asks them <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/i-can-t-breathe-oklahoma-man-tells-police-dying-i-n1229586" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">repeatedly</a> to give him his medicine. An officer replies, “I don’t care.” “The Scott family is not receiving any justice,” Dickerson said, adding that Scott’s killing was eerily similar to Floyd’s. Earlier this month, police <a href="https://www.news9.com/story/5f325999e19fd50b8a662097/1-in-critical-condition-after-overnight-police-shooting-in-ne-okc-" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">shot</a> 32-year-old James Harmon in the head, saying that he had a weapon in his hand (Oklahoma is an open-carry state). Harmon is still in the hospital. “Systemic racism, institutional racism, and white supremacy is so deep-rooted,” Dickerson said, agreeing with Lambert’s characterization of Prater’s office. “There’s really nothing more Oklahoman than that.” “This was a state that was formed basically for them to literally lump Natives and Blacks here together,” she said. “And so it has always been very intentional and deliberate, for us to be victims of what I consider state-sanctioned violence and state-targeted violence.”For the Oklahoma City teens and young adults facing terror charges, “what’s next is they fight for their lives,” Lambert said. The statute carries a maximum of life in prison. “Many of these charged protesters are young teenagers. … So they are facing spending their entire lives in prison simply for, in some cases, attending a protest to try and hold police accountable.” Criminal defense attorneys are still working to get those charges dropped or significantly reduced.   “Some of the young people were saying, ‘We should go to Kenosha and stand with the young people there,” Dickerson said. “And I was like, ‘How do you choose?’”</div><div></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony</a></div><div>
</div><div>The term felony originated from English <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law" title="Common law" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">common law</a> (from the French medieval word "félonie"), to describe an offense that resulted in the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods, to which additional punishments including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment" title="Capital punishment" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">capital punishment</a> could be added.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[1]</a> Other crimes were called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misdemeanor" title="Misdemeanor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">misdemeanors</a>. A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seriousness" title="Seriousness" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">seriousness</a>, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a> Following conviction of a felony in a court of law, a person may be described as a convicted felon/felon. The centuries-old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stigma" title="Social stigma" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">stigma</a> of loss of wealth, status and speculated extreme gravity to the crime sees those personal descriptions widely deprecated, in favour of ex-convict or ex-criminal.Some common law countries and jurisdictions no longer classify crimes as felonies or misdemeanors and instead use other distinctions, such as by classifying serious crimes as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictable_offence" title="Indictable offence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">indictable offences</a> and less serious crimes as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_offence" title="Summary offence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">summary offences</a>.In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">United States</a>, where the felony/misdemeanor distinction is still widely applied, the federal government defines a felony as a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year. If punishable by exactly one year or less, it is classified as a misdemeanor. The classification is based upon a crime's potential sentence, so a crime remains classified as a felony even if a defendant receives a sentence of less than a year of incarceration.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a> Individual states may classify crimes by other factors, such as seriousness or context.In some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_law(legal_system)" title="Civil law (legal system)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">civil law</a> jurisdictions, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy" title="Italy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Italy</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain" title="Spain" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Spain</a>, the term <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delict" title="Delict" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">delict</a> is used to describe serious offenses, a category similar to common law felony. In other nations, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Germany</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France" title="France" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">France</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium" title="Belgium" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Belgium</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland" title="Switzerland" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Switzerland</a>, more serious offenses are described as crimes, while misdemeanors or delicts (or délits) are less serious. In still others (such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil" title="Brazil" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brazil</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal" title="Portugal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Portugal</a>), crimes and delicts are synonymous (more serious) and are opposed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contravention" title="Contravention" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">contraventions</a> (less serious).<div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table;"><ul style="list-style-image: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Overview" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1Overview</a><ul style="list-style-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Classification_by_subject_matter" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.1Classification by subject matter</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Classification_by_seriousness" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.2Classification by seriousness</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#England_and_Wales" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2England and Wales</a><ul style="list-style-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#History" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1History</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Procedure" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2Procedure</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Terminology" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3Terminology</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Ireland" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Ireland</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#United_States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4United States</a><ul style="list-style-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Restoration_of_Rights" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.1Restoration of Rights</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#Germany" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5Germany</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7References</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Overview[</h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Classification by subject matter[</h3>Felonies include but are not limited to the following:<ul style="list-style-image: url(" w="w" skins="skins" vector="Vector" resources="resources" skins.vector.styles="skins.vector.styles" images="images" bullet-icon.svg="bullet-icon.svg" d4515="d4515" margin="margin" em="em" px="px" padding="padding"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder" title="Murder" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Murder</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Aggravated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault" title="Assault" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">assault</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery(crime)" title="Battery (crime)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">battery</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter" title="Manslaughter" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Manslaughter</a> (unintentional killing of another)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_cruelty" class="mw-redirect" title="Animal cruelty" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Animal cruelty</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide" title="Vehicular homicide" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Vehicular homicide</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larceny" title="Larceny" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Larceny</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arson" title="Arson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Arson</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burglary" title="Burglary" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Burglary</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion" title="Tax evasion" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Tax evasion</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Various forms of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud" title="Fraud" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">fraud</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act" title="Computer Fraud and Abuse Act" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Computer Crime Fraud and Abuse</a> (computer hacking)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug_trade" title="Illegal drug trade" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">manufacture, sale, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute</a> of certain types or quantities of illegal drugs</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;">In some states, the simple possession (possession without intent to distribute, e.g., for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_abuse" class="mw-redirect" title="Drug abuse" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">personal use</a>) of certain types of illegal drugs, usually in more than a certain quantity but regardless of quantity for some drugs in some jurisdictions (such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia" title="Virginia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Virginia</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine" title="Cocaine" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">cocaine</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin" title="Heroin" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">heroin</a>)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_larceny" class="mw-redirect" title="Grand larceny" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Grand larceny</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_theft" class="mw-redirect" title="Grand theft" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">grand theft</a>, i.e., <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larceny" title="Larceny" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">larceny</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft" title="Theft" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">theft</a> above a certain statutorily established value or quantity of goods</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandalism" title="Vandalism" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Vandalism</a> on federal property.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_impersonation" title="Police impersonation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Impersonation</a> of a law enforcement officer with intention of deception</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason" title="Treason" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Treason</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape" title="Rape" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Rape</a>/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_assault" title="Sexual assault" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">sexual assault</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping" title="Kidnapping" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Kidnapping</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstruction_of_justice" title="Obstruction of justice" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Obstruction of justice</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perjury" title="Perjury" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Perjury</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_fraud" class="mw-redirect" title="Check fraud" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Check fraud</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement" title="Copyright infringement" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Copyright infringement</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-4" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">[4]</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography" title="Child pornography" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Child pornography</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_and_wire_fraud" title="Mail and wire fraud" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mail and wire fraud</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgery" title="Forgery" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Forgery</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_government_officials_of_the_United_States" class="mw-redirect" title="Threatening the government officials of the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Threatening an official</a> (police officer, judge)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion" title="Extortion" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Extortion</a></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail" title="Blackmail" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Blackmail</a></li></ul>Broadly, felonies can be characterized as either violent or nonviolent:<ul style="list-style-image: url(" w="w" skins="skins" vector="Vector" resources="resources" skins.vector.styles="skins.vector.styles" images="images" bullet-icon.svg="bullet-icon.svg" d4515="d4515" margin="margin" em="em" px="px" padding="padding" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Violent offenses usually contain some element of force or a threat of force against a person. Some jurisdictions classify as violent certain property crimes involving a strong likelihood of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_trauma" title="Psychological trauma" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">psychological trauma</a> to the property owner; for example, Virginia treats both common-law <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burglary" title="Burglary" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">burglary</a> (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_and_entering" class="mw-redirect" title="Breaking and entering" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">breaking and entering</a> of a dwelling house at night with the intent to commit larceny, assault and battery, or any felony therein) and statutory burglary (breaking and entering with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_intent" class="mw-redirect" title="Specific intent" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">further criminal intent</a> but without the dwelling-house or time elements, such that the definition applies to break-ins at any time and of businesses as well as of dwelling houses) as felonies.</li></ul>Some offenses, though similar in nature, may be felonies or misdemeanors depending on the circumstances. For example, the illegal manufacture, distribution or possession of controlled substances may be a felony, although possession of small amounts may be only a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misdemeanor" title="Misdemeanor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">misdemeanor</a>. Possession of a deadly weapon may be generally legal, but carrying the same weapon into a restricted area such as a school may be viewed as a serious offense, regardless of whether there is intent to use the weapon. Additionally, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_under_the_influence" title="Driving under the influence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">driving under the influence</a> in some states may be a misdemeanor if a first offense, but a felony on subsequent offenses.<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">"The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law" title="Common law" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">common law</a> divided participants in a felony into four basic categories: (1) first-degree principals, those who actually committed the crime in question; (2) second-degree principals, aiders and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abettor" title="Abettor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">abettors</a> present at the scene of the crime; (3) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessory(legal_term)" title="Accessory (legal term)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">accessories</a> before the fact, aiders and abettors who helped the principal before the basic criminal event took place; and (4) accessories after the fact, persons who helped the principal after the basic criminal event took place. In the course of the 20th century, however, American jurisdictions eliminated the distinction among the first three categories." Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases,volume_549" title="List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 549" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">549</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Reports" title="United States Reports" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">U.S.</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/549/183/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" w="w" skins="skins" vector="Vector" resources="resources" skins.vector.styles="skins.vector.styles" images="images" external-link-ltr-icon.svg="external-link-ltr-icon.svg" b4b84="b4b84" padding-right="padding-right" px="px">183</a> (2007) (citations omitted).</dd></dl><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Classification by seriousness[</h3>A felony may be punishable with imprisonment for two or more years or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment" title="Capital punishment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">death</a> in the case of the most serious felonies, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder" title="Murder" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">murder</a>. Indeed, historically at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law" title="Common law" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">common law</a>, felonies were crimes punishable by either <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment" title="Capital punishment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">death</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture" title="Asset forfeiture" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">forfeiture</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property" title="Property" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">property</a>. All felonies remain a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_crime" class="mw-redirect" title="High crime" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">serious crime</a>, but concerns of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportionality(law)" title="Proportionality (law)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">proportionality</a> (i.e., that the punishment fit the crime) have in modern times prompted legislatures to require or permit the imposition of less serious punishments, ranging from lesser terms of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprisonment" title="Imprisonment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">imprisonment</a> to the substitution of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jail" class="mw-redirect" title="Jail" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">jail</a> sentence or even the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended_sentence" title="Suspended sentence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">suspension</a> of all incarceration contingent upon a defendant's successful completion of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probation" title="Probation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">probation</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a> Standards for measurement of an offense's seriousness include attempts<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-OSS-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a> to quantitatively estimate and compare the effects of a crime upon its specific victims or upon society generally.In some states, all or most felonies are placed into one of various classes according to their seriousness and their potential punishment upon conviction. The number of classifications and the corresponding crimes vary by state and are determined by the legislature. Usually, the legislature also determines the maximum punishment allowable for each felony class; doing so avoids the necessity of defining specific sentences for every possible crime. For example:<ul style="list-style-image: url(" w="w" skins="skins" vector="Vector" resources="resources" skins.vector.styles="skins.vector.styles" images="images" bullet-icon.svg="bullet-icon.svg" d4515="d4515" margin="margin" em="em" px="px" padding="padding" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Virginia classifies most felonies by number,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[9]</a> ranging from Class 6 (least severe: 1 to 5 years in prison or up to 12 months in jail) through Class 2 (20 years to life, e.g., first-degree murder and aggravated malicious <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounding" class="mw-redirect" title="Wounding" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">wounding</a>) up to Class 1 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment" title="Life imprisonment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">life imprisonment</a> or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment" title="Capital punishment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">death penalty</a>, reserved for certain types of murders). Some felonies remain outside the classification system.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">New York State classifies felonies by letter, with some classes divided into sub-classes by Roman numeral; classes range from Class E (encompassing the least severe felonies) through Classes D, C, B, and A–II up to Class A–I (encompassing the most severe).</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Massachusetts classifies felony as an offense that carries any prison time.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Ohio classifies felonies by degree ranging from first, second, third, fourth, to fifth degree. First-degree felonies are the most serious category, while fifth-degree felonies are the least serious. This is broadly the approach taken by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_Penal_Code" title="Model Penal Code" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Model Penal Code</a>, although the Code identifies only three degrees of felony.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a></li></ul><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">England and Wales[</h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">History[</h3><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackstone" title="William Blackstone" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sir William Blackstone</a> wrote that felony "comprises every species of crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-Blackstone_4-7-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a> The word felony was feudal in origin, denoting the value of a man's entire property: "the consideration for which a man gives up his fief".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-Blackstone-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a> Blackstone refutes the misconception that felony simply means an offense punishable by death, by demonstrating that not every felony is capital, and not every <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment" title="Capital punishment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">capital offense</a> is a felony. However he concedes that "the idea of felony is indeed so generally connected with that of capital punishment, that we find it hard to separate them; and to this usage the interpretations of the law do now conform."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-Blackstone_4-7-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a>...USThe reform of harsh felony laws that had originated in Great Britain was deemed "one of the first fruits of liberty" after the United States became independent.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a>In many parts of the United States, a felon can face <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_rights_due_to_conviction_for_criminal_offense" title="Loss of rights due to conviction for criminal offense" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">long-term legal consequences persisting after the end of their imprisonment</a>. The status and designation as a "felon" is considered permanent, and is not extinguished upon <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_sentencing_in_the_United_States" title="Criminal sentencing in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">sentence</a> completion even if <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parole" title="Parole" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">parole</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probation" title="Probation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">probation</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassionate_release" title="Compassionate release" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">early release</a> was given.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-New_Jim_Crow-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a> The status can be cleared only by a successful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal" title="Appeal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">appeal</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon" title="Pardon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">executive clemency</a>. However, felons may qualify for restoration of some rights after a certain period of time has passed.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[22]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[23]</a>The consequences felons face in most states include:<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[24]</a><ul style="list-style-image: url(" w="w" skins="skins" vector="Vector" resources="resources" skins.vector.styles="skins.vector.styles" images="images" bullet-icon.svg="bullet-icon.svg" d4515="d4515" margin="margin" em="em" px="px" padding="padding"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement" class="mw-redirect" title="Felony disenfranchisement" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Disenfranchisement</a> (expressly permitted by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Fourteenth Amendment</a>, as noted by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States" title="Supreme Court of the United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Supreme Court</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[25]</a>)</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Exclusion from obtaining certain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License" title="License" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">licenses</a>, such as a visa, or professional licenses required to legally operate (making some vocations off-limits to felons)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[26]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Ineligibility to hold office in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Labor Union" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">labor union</a> (a provision of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Management_Reporting_and_Disclosure_Act_of_1959" title="Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Landrum–Griffin Act of 1959</a>)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Exclusion from purchase and possession of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm" title="Firearm" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">firearms</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammunition" title="Ammunition" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ammunition</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_armor" title="Body armor" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">body armor</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Ineligibility to serve on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury" title="Jury" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">jury</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Ineligibility for government assistance or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare" title="Welfare" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">welfare</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation" title="Deportation" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Removal (deportation)</a> (if not a citizen)</li></ul>Additionally, many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_applications" class="mw-redirect" title="Job applications" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">job applications</a> and rental applications ask about felony history (with the exception of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[27]</a> and answering dishonestly on them can be grounds for rejecting the application, or termination if the lie is discovered after hire. Convicted felons may not be eligible for certain professional licenses or bonds,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[28]</a> or may raise the cost of an employer's insurance.It is broadly legal to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_against_persons_with_criminal_records_in_the_United_States" title="Employment discrimination against persons with criminal records in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">discriminate against felons in hiring decisions</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[29]</a> as well as the decision to rent housing to a person, so felons can face barriers to finding both jobs and housing. Many landlords will not rent to felons, although a blanket ban on renting to felons may violate federal housing law.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[30]</a> A common term of parole is to avoid associating with other felons. In some neighborhoods with high rates of felony conviction, this creates a situation where many felons live with a constant threat of being arrested for violating parole.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-New_Jim_Crow-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a> Banks may refuse to issue loans to felons, and a felony conviction may prevent employment in banking or finance.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[31]</a>In some states, restoration of those rights depends on repayment of various fees associated with the felon's arrest, processing, and prison stay, such as restitution to victims, or outstanding fines.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-New_Jim_Crow-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Restoration of Rights[</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main articles: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon" title="Pardon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Pardon</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expungement_in_the_United_States" title="Expungement in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Expungement in the United States</a></div>The primary means of restoring civil rights that are lost as a result of a felony conviction are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon" title="Pardon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">executive clemency</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expungement_in_the_United_States" title="Expungement in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Expungement in the United States</a>.For state law convictions, expungement is determined by the law of the state. Many states do not allow expungement, regardless of the offense, though felons can seek pardons and clemency, potentially including restoration of rights.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-32" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">[32]</a>Federal law does not have any provisions for persons convicted of federal felonies in a federal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_district_court" title="United States district court" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States district court</a> to apply to have their record expunged.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-CCRCFed-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[33]</a> At present the only relief that an individual convicted of a felony in federal court may receive is a presidential <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon" title="Pardon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">pardon</a>, which does not expunge the conviction, but rather grants relief from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_and_political_rights" title="Civil and political rights" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">civil disabilities</a> that stem from it.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-CCRCFed-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[33]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[34]</a>...<h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See also[</h2><ul style="list-style-image: url(" w="w" skins="skins" vector="Vector" resources="resources" skins.vector.styles="skins.vector.styles" images="images" bullet-icon.svg="bullet-icon.svg" d4515="d4515" margin="margin" em="em" px="px" padding="padding" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compounding_a_felony" title="Compounding a felony" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Compounding a felony</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_law" title="Criminal law" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Criminal law</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_against_persons_with_criminal_records_in_the_United_States" title="Employment discrimination against persons with criminal records in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Employment discrimination against persons with criminal records in the United States</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_crime_in_the_United_States" title="Federal crime in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Federal crime in the United States</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule" title="Felony murder rule" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Felony murder rule</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backberend_and_Handhabend" title="Backberend and Handhabend" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Backberend and Handhabend</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictable_offence" title="Indictable offence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Indictable offence</a> (Canadian equivalent of felony)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_offence" title="Summary offence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Summary offence</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misdemeanor" title="Misdemeanor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Misdemeanor</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_strike,you%27re_out" title="One strike, you're out" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">One strike, you're out</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act" title="Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act</a> (RICO)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-strikes_law" title="Three-strikes law" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Three-strikes law</a></li></ul></div><div><div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style=""><div class="mag-header" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/whats-behind-the-extreme-charges-for-3-nonviolent-protesters-in-salt-lake-city/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;">What’s behind the extreme charges for 3 nonviolent protesters in Salt Lake City?</a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/roryfleming1/" title="Posts by Rory Fleming" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Rory Fleming</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/filter/" title="Posts by Filter " class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Filter</a></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Salt Lake City is a world apart from the rest of Utah culturally and politically, and its choice of district attorney shows that—at least on a surface level. Sim Gill,…<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/whats-behind-the-extreme-charges-for-3-nonviolent-protesters-in-salt-lake-city/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/whats-behind-the-extreme-charges-for-3-nonviolent-protesters-in-salt-lake-city/</a>
salt Lake City is a world apart from the rest of Utah culturally and politically, and its choice of district attorney shows that—at least on a surface level. Sim Gill, first elected to the seat in 2010, has made some modest criminal justice reform moves, like expressing support for reducing the number of people on probation or court supervision. As a first-generation immigrant from India, he’s one of the few Asian-American elected prosecutors nationwide. Faced with a conservative Republican challenger in 2018, Gill emerged victorious by 14 percentage points.
However, DA Gill’s recent reaction to the vandalizing of his office shows a different, more vindictive side to him. In early July, protesters gathered to criticize Gill for refusing to indict the police officer who killed a young Latino man named Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal. A group of protesters allegedly painted “the road outside of the district attorney’s downtown Salt Lake City office and its facade red.” On July 28, three protesters, all women no older than 25, were charged with several criminal mischief and rioting felonies.
The local paper originally reported the criminal mischief charges as first-degree felonies, which carry a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of life under state law. However, there is no first-degree felony under the statute. Assuming the women were charged under the harshest provision under that particular criminal law, a second-degree felony, they would all be facing one-to-fifteen years in prison on just one of the charges filed.
Buildings and streets can be repainted. No violence was alleged, nor any threat of violence. So the worst that this incident represents is property damage. What was the DA thinking?
Unfortunately, Salt Lake County DA Sim Gill has a tendency to react this way when challenged. For example, when Utah County Commissioners were poised to create the state’s first commission on prosecutorial misconduct, Gill joined then-Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman and others to decry it as a violative encroachment on prosecutors’ authority. Even though the commission would only have affected the Utah County DA office, and even though Buhman had a documented record of alleged misconduct and bullying of defense attorneys.
Gill’s defensiveness came in the context of his questionable ongoing political durability. In Utah County, the second-largest in the state, new Republican DA David Leavitt is just as “progressive” as Gill, if not more so. He ran as a pro-reform counterpoint to Buhman; after taking office, he has deprioritized drug cases, to the chagrin of many in the local law enforcement rank and file. These moves are braver to make in a place like Utah County, which has a much more traditional, tough-on-crime electorate than Salt Lake County. Meanwhile, Gill has refused to support marijuana legalization or the end to mandatory minimum prison sentences for drugs in his jurisdiction, the much more liberal Salt Lake County.
Then there were the revelations in a September 2018 Buzzfeed expose that at least four women were vying to use a state constitutional provision to initiate prosecutions against the men they accused of sexually assaulting them. All four were vocally disappointed that DA Gill’s office found their allegations unconvincing, and found an ally in University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell, a prominent victims’ rights advocate who represented one of the women in court. It was the kind of bombshell story that ends some elected prosecutors’ careers, though it failed to get much attention in the local press....</div></div></div></div><div>=</div></div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/11/22/tucson-12-protest-felony-riot/">https://theintercept.com/2019/11/22/tucson-12-protest-felony-riot/</a></div><div>
</div><div>ON THE NIGHT of August 14, a small group of around 20 Tucson, Arizona-based activists and community members stood outside the Pima County Adult Detention Complex, making noise. They sang, they chanted, they banged drums and pans loud enough to reach the ears of those caged behind the facility’s beige concrete walls. Standing on a sidewalk, some lit small, handheld fireworks; others held up a large banner bearing the famed prison abolitionist refrain, “Fire to the prisons.” The message to those inside, as with most every noise demonstration held outside a prison: “You are not alone.”</div><div>
</div><div data-reactid="193" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Noise demonstrations are a well-established practice, held all around the country, for showing solidarity with incarcerated people. They are a gesture of community, against the prison system’s brutal enforcement of isolation. In Tucson that August night, according to one attendee, the inmates could be seen dancing and waving in response.The demonstration wound down on its own, without any police intervention; the participants rolled up their banner, packed up their instruments, and began to disperse. Yet the police were waiting in the wings: A mile away from the facility, along a river path, a dozen sheriffs in patrol cars surrounded and arrested a group they believed had taken part in the protest.</div><div data-reactid="197" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Tucson 12 — so named by their supporters — now face the charge of felony riot, a statute that hasn’t been used by Arizona prosecutors in years and, until Donald Trump’s presidency, had been rarely invoked anywhere in the country. In the weeks and months following Trump’s 2017 inauguration, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/08/donald-trump-anti-protest-bills" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">wave</a> of repressive anti-protest laws were pushed onto statehouse agendas nationwide. Republicans in Arizona attempted to pass some of the most heavy-handed legislation. The state’s Senate Bill 1142 — dubbed an “anti-rioting” bill by its supporters — <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2017/02/23/5-things-know-arizona-bill-arrest-protesters-riot/98302932/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">aimed</a> to dramatically expand the state’s existing rioting statutes; the law would have significantly lowered the bar for what counts as participation in a riot, and protesters who were deemed “rioters” would face hefty racketeering charges. The bill passed the state Senate but <a href="https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/02/28/mesnard-says-he-killed-rioting-bill-because-it-became-politically-unacceptable/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">died</a> in the House. Yet, as the Tucson 12 case demonstrates, the bill wasn’t necessary for prosecutors to come down hard on protesters.The demonstrators’ prosecution is not the harshest contemporary instance of state repression against social justice struggle in the border region. Humanitarian Scott Warren, for example, was just <a href="https://twitter.com/rdevro/status/1197286409696006144" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">found not guilty</a> in his <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/11/11/immigration-aid-scott-warren-retrial/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">second trial</a> on felony harboring charges for the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/05/04/no-more-deaths-scott-warren-migrants-border-arizona/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">crime of feeding two migrants and offering them beds</a> after an arduous, death-defying journey through the desert. Yet the Tucson 12’s case sits at the intersection of some of the most troubling recent patterns toward the persecution of dissent: the repression of those who protest the integrated systems of mass incarceration and deportation; the targeting and demonization of left-wing organizing; and the government’s effort to reframe protests as “riots” to justify crackdowns.“Authorities in the borderland region are feeling emboldened and, as national anger around the border heats up, they will do whatever they can to make it seem impossible for resistance to exist,” said Brittany Johnson, a social worker and one of the 12 defendants. “If the simple act of making noise outside a prison or detention facility — or giving food, water, and respite to a traveler in need — can get you charged with felonies and wrapped up in a legal battle, this narrows the ability to imagine, much less take risks, to bring about a world where people can move freely and with dignity.”PIMA COUNTY JAIL has been the site of a number of protest actions in recent years. In August 2018, immigrants’ rights advocates <a href="https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/protest-calls-for-eviction-of-ice-from-pima-county-jail" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">gathered</a> outside the complex to call for an end to its collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; in 2017, ICE officials were granted use of their own office space inside the jail. Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier <a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/sheriff-napier-removes-federal-immigration-agents-from-pima-county-jail/article_2665f64e-2217-50e9-af6c-1578a820025c.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">removed</a> the federal agents’ desk from the detention center a few months after the summer protests, but not in order to halt cooperation with ICE. Napier ejected the agents in an effort to encourage county supervisors to restore a $1.8 million federal grant to his department, specifically dedicated to <a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/pima-county-to-resume-use-of-controversial-federal-border-security/article_eb4421dc-7b18-539a-bf28-b208c071f094.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">supporting</a> cooperation between local law enforcement and border agents. At the time, Tucson-based American Civil Liberties Union attorney Billy Peard told reporters that, while the physical removal of ICE from the jail was welcome, “it doesn’t reduce the cooperation, collaboration or communication between the agencies regarding the roughly 70 (undocumented) inmates in jail at any given time.” Pima County sheriffs continue to check the immigration status of all inmates and, as Arizona law dictates, inform ICE of all those without sufficient documents.The noise demonstration this August was a protest against the carceral system, not just the aspects of it dedicated to harming immigrants. And while the case against the Tucson 12 should be seen in the context of brutal law enforcement of the border region, it should also be understood in relation to crackdowns on leftist resistance more broadly around the country. These are not necessarily coordinated or directly Trump-inspired responses — the Pima County district attorney, for example, is a Democrat — but a climate of overzealous protest policing and prosecution has nonetheless settled in.“These charges are clearly part of a troubling pattern,” said Glen Frieden, spokesperson for the Tucson 12’s support committee. “Increasingly, police and prosecutors are levying accusations of ‘rioting’ against any political activity that challenges the existing state of affairs. It happened at Standing Rock, it happened at the protests against Donald Trump’s inauguration, and now we see it here in Tucson.”In another instance, 10 protesters in Utah also currently <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/10/21/ten-facing-criminal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">face</a> felony riot charges following a July protest against the development of an environmentally destructive inland port. Riot charges, even when they fail to stick, have consequences: When simple acts of First Amendment-protected protest are deemed riots by prosecutors, all types of protest participation appear as a legal risk. Lowering the bar for what gets considered a riot curtails the possibility of genuinely riotous protest — a warning that serves only as a boon for the powers that be.The government’s most notable, and notably failed, recent attempt to charge a protest group with felony riot was the prosecution of more than 200 demonstrators who were arrested en masse on inauguration day in Washington, D.C. The protracted, bogus cases <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/07/13/j20-charges-dropped-prosecutorial-misconduct/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">collapsed</a>, with all charges against the “<a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a54391/how-the-government-is-turning-protesters-into-felons/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">J20</a>” defendants dropped.</div><div data-reactid="201" style="box-sizing: border-box;">By a stroke of grim luck, aided by widespread anti-protest crackdowns, two of the Tucson 12 were also J20 defendants, who had traveled to D.C. to march against Trump’s inauguration. “I was surprised by our charges in the Tucson 12 case because the nature of our protest was a fairly routine noise demo,” said Jayram Toraty, a member of the Tucson 12 and former J20 defendant who recently moved to Arizona. “But otherwise I wasn’t surprised to see the state leverage riot charges against protesters.” The riot charges are costly to Toraty: “It puts part of my life on hold, costs myself and my communities resources, and instills anxiety into my life.”With or without riot convictions, the government disrupts movements, and lives, through heavy-handed prosecutions. “It makes people distrust each other and begin to think that the other people at the protest are the biggest threat to their own freedom, rather than placing blame on the police,” said Friedman, the spokesperson. “It takes away the autonomy of different people to make choices as to whether or not they want to engage in a certain action.”THERE DOES NOT need to be an explicit top-down political strategy in place for policing and prosecutorial patterns to emerge. And there is little denying that the Trump presidency has seen an uptick in what Michael Loadenthal, a professor of sociology and social justice at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, calls the “felonization and riotization” of protests. A scholar of social movements, Loadenthal was himself a J20 defendant and has noted a shift since 2016 in the way protest actions have been “re-coded” as riots by law enforcement. “The term ‘riot’ implies an opaque or semi-opaque, unidentifiable, fluid, temporary, spontaneous, and amorphous mass,” wrote Loadenthal in a 2019 <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40270690/2019_Now_that_Was_A_Riot_Social_Control_in_Felonious_Times" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">paper</a>, noting how the “riot” label invokes a nefarious subject — the riotous mob — above and beyond describing a specific event or even a specific illegal activity.The designation of a protest as a “riot” by politicians or the media is not new and has historically been used to <a href="https://thenewinquiry.com/black-riot/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">dismiss</a> the vigorous and necessary political street action of black people as senseless, apolitical violence, from civil rights unrest to the uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore. What is new, or at least renewed, is the police and prosecutors levying mass riot charges. Loadenthal makes particular note of the fact that, although there had been approximately 2,000 Black Lives Matter demonstrations prior to 2016 — a number of which were popularly described as “riots” — the hundreds of related arrests led to charges from “unlawful assembly” to assault and theft. Yet, as Loadenthal wrote, “In July 2016, during the blocking of a Minnesota highway following the murder of Philando Castile, 40 individuals were charged with ‘rioting.’ Only two months later, Glo Merriweather was arrested in Charlotte, NC, at a demonstration following an officer-involved shooting, and charged with felony ‘inciting a riot.’” He added, “While one may have expected such actions during the Ferguson, Missouri uprising ($4.6 million in damages) or those in Baltimore, Maryland ($13 million), it is shocking to see the use of such rioting charges when the actionable offense resembles nonviolent civil disobedience — the unarmed blocking of vehicular traffic.In a legal context allegedly committed to determining the guilt or innocence of an individual, the “riot” label invokes the juridically slippery notion of collective group liability. In this sense, riot charges sit at odds with the supposed tenets of U.S. jurisprudence and individualized responsibility. “If the assembly can be deemed a riot, then the individuals present are rioters and since rioters are understood to be apolitical, irrational, amoral, criminal, and sociopathic,” Loadenthal <a href="https://www.academia.edu/37322875/2018_The_Riotization_of_Protest_an_interview_with_Michael_Loadenthal" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">noted</a> in an interview last year, “they can be repressed and attacked outside of the liberal rights-based debate on freedom of assembly, chilling of speech, and so on.”</div><div data-reactid="212" style="box-sizing: border-box;">THE PIMA COUNTY District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the pending Tucson 12 cases. But Dan South, the office’s bureau chief for community protection, said that he “can’t recall” another felony riot case brought by the county. “Admittedly, I have not come across very many Riot charges,” South wrote to The Intercept by email.Civil rights lawyer Paul Gattone, who is representing Toraty, told me that the government has “a weak case.” He noted, “It’s pretty outrageous. They were all on the sidewalk, no one told them to leave, and they were walking away.” According to Gattone, felony riot charges are “pretty unusual in Arizona. It’s hard to find one in the state for many years.”Under Arizona <a href="https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/02903.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">law</a>, a person can be said to commit a riot if, “with two or more other persons acting together, such person recklessly uses force or violence or threatens to use force or violence, if such threat is accompanied by immediate power of execution, which disturbs the public peace.” The idea that the noise demonstration rose to such a level of threat is, for Gattone, “ridiculous.” The Pima County Sheriff’s Office alleged at the time that the demonstrators were being “disruptive” and throwing fireworks at the jail, although no individualized evidence against any one defendant has been provided.On November 18, the defendants attended a pretrial conference and were told that prosecutors were working on a new plea deal. A previous plea offer to admit to attempted rioting, a Class 6 felony carrying a possible two-year prison sentence, was roundly rejected by all members of the Tucson 12. “We’re pushing forward,” Gattone told me.Unlike the J20 defendants, who were threatened with decades in prison, each of the Tucson 12 face a presumptive sentence of two years if found guilty. It’s nonetheless an intolerable potential cost for taking part in a small noise demonstration. As Friedan put it, “Anyone who thinks protests and political demonstrations are valuable and necessary tools should be concerned.”</div><div><div></div><div>819</div><div>The leader of a large right-wing militia group told followers to skip a planned rally in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, saying that organizers hadn’t properly kept white nationalists away from the event and that attendees could face legal consequences.<div class="code-block code-block-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; clear: both;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -38px;">In a <a href="https://oathkeepers.org/2019/08/oath-keepers-will-not-be-participating-in-the-august-17-rally-in-portland-or/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a> on his group’s website, Oath Keepers founder <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/we-build-the-wall-oath-keepers-three-percenters-guardian-patriots" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Stewart Rhodes</a> said he owed it to his membership to disavow the so-called “End Domestic Terrorism” rally, where attendees will demand that anti-fascists, or “antifa,” be labeled a terrorist group.“We do not believe the organizers are taking the steps necessary to ensure that white nationalist and suspected white nationalist groups and individuals will be excluded,” he wrote.Rhodes expressed concern that threats of violence from the right could put attendees at legal risk.Citing the work of anarchist news website It’s Going Down, Rhodes pointed to the <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/proud-boy-leaders-tone-down-after-fbi/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">archived</a> posts the site has collected that show prominent far-right figures, including the event’s organizers, seemingly threatening violence.Rhodes said that statements that can be “construed as expressing an intent to come to Portland to seek out Antifa and engage them in street fights” or “worse” could “potentially expose all attendees to possible prosecution using both an Oregon state ‘rioting’ statute and a federal rioting statute.”<div class="code-block code-block-7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 8px auto; clear: both;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -38px;">Joe Biggs, an event organizer and former InfoWars host who <a href="https://twitter.com/Johnnthelefty/status/1157872808707235841?fbclid=IwAR0BJVpV6X1txh1Uh0WBC8l80d3bjuJ0xE8j3hxb3R4LEOOEZ_LKCo-6PSQk" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">frequently</a> posts threatening messages and memes online, claimed in a recent Facebook post <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/08/chief-says-portland-is-becoming-a-magnet-for-brawling-political-protests-while-out-of-state-proud-boys-send-message-to-mayor-city-commissioners.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">flagged by The Oregonian</a> that the FBI had asked him to “tone down” the rhetoric about the event.“Everyone in law enforcement is on edge after these last two shootings,” he wrote, presumably referring to the shooting massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, recently.The Portland Police Bureau said in a statement <a href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/08/02/26905848/portland-police-brace-for-august-17-proud-boys-rally" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">earlier this month</a>, “Based on publicly-available information, the Bureau is concerned events on August 17 may involve persons interested in participating in criminal activity.”Messaging for Saturday’s rally has focused on the assault of right-wing commentator Andy Ngo in Portland in late June. Video from the last time the right-wing “Proud Boys” gang rallied in Portland appeared to show counterprotesters — clad in black with their faces covered, a uniform of some — attacking Ngo and pouring milkshakes on him. The footage spread like wildfire on the right and was touted by conservatives as supposed evidence of the left’s terrorism problem, and used as fodder for Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) <a href="https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-cruz-antifa-is-a-domestic-terrorist-organization" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">resolution</a> calling antifascists a domestic terrorist organization.But Portland has seen multiple violent confrontations in recent years between extreme right-wing groups, including outright hate groups, and anti-fascists.Rhodes’ note to Oath Keepers membership came on the same day the leader of the ultranationalist group Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson, was <a href="https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2019/08/15/patriot-prayer-leader-joey-gibson-will-face-criminal-charges-in-may-day-riot-his-lawyer-says/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">reportedly</a> charged with felony rioting over a brawl at a Portland cidery on May Day. (Gibson’s attorney <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/joey-gibson-criminal-charges-cider-riot/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">denied wrongdoing</a>.) The group’s leader is one of several people <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/08/fourth-suspect-arrested-in-connection-with-may-day-clash-following-three-others-within-a-week.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">charged recently</a> in relation to the incident.</div></div></div></div></div></div><div>=</div></div></div>