Violent felony convictions connote some of the most serious of all crimes within the U.S. legal system. As opposed to non-violent felony arrests and convictions, like most property crime, violent felonies use violence with or without a weapon in either action or intention. In the broadest sense, there are five primary Federal categorizations of violent felony arrests and convictions according to the United States Department of Justice:
1) Murder Felony Convictions: The act of killing another person with deliberate intent and with “malice afterthought”. Voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, the less “culpable” forms of murder, which can be performed with intention to kill or without, are also included in this grouping.
2) Forcible Rape Felony Convictions: The forced sexual penetration of another person, regardless of age, and using either violent force or threat of violence without that person’s consent.
3) Robbery Felony Convictions: The seizure of property by using either violent force, fear, or intimidation. Robbery felony convictions can include, but are not limited to, armed robbery, aggravated robbery, piracy, extortion, hijacking, and mugging.
4) Simple Assault Felony Convictions: Any deliberate physical contact with a person without that person’s consent, or any deliberate threat to a person suggestive of violence. As long as the culprit is capable of actually performing the action, whether or not the assault is successful is not necessarily important.
5) Aggravated Assault Felony Convictions: Simple assault with a deadly weapon, such as a gun or knife, or assault with the intention to rape, seriously hurt, or murder another.
Out of these five clauses for felony arrests, data shows that aggravated assault is by far the most prevalent, accounting for roughly 60% of all violent felony convictions. Felony arrests pertaining to robbery are the second-most common, responsible for about 30% of documented violent crimes, with forcible rape at 7% and murder at about 1.5%, rounding out the remainder of felony arrests.
Despite this generalization, though, each State will essentially have its own set of felony laws which determine on what basis violent felony arrests can be made, and consequently, how they are to be convicted. For instance, nearly all states give repeat DUI offenders violent felony convictions, while New Jersey considers a DUI a traffic violation, or for repeat offenders, a misdemeanor.
In terms of rape felony convictions, some states classify sexual assault, regardless of whether there was actual penetration, as rape, while others will have different rape and violent sexual assault classifications and charges. Ultimately, if someone has been arrested for a violent crime at a State level and is facing a felony charge, it is crucial to find an experienced lawyer specialized in violent felony convictions who knows the State laws at hand.
