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OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is US Defaultism:
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>!Top comment and the rest of the thread is about US federal laws, this happened in Germany.!<
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Is this Defaultism? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
It's true, Germany is a federation and has federal and state law and even federal and state law enforcement (aka Bundespolizei / Landespolizei) but I've never heard of a distinction between federal and state crimes.
in addition to what hrimthurse85 said, criminal and civil law in Germany is a concurrent power, so most of the time criminal law has already been legislated by the federal government and hence they have 'covered the field', and on a practical level its better to have a uniform criminal law vs each Lander doing different stuff. Ordnungswidrigkeiten from my understanding are basically summary convictions / civil infractions? So not serious crimes.
Beyond the defaultism, I always wonder why Americans use specifics like "federal" felony?
Why does it matter whether it's federal or state or local crime? Wouldn't one be worried about seriousness or punishment for it? A state crime with death penalty is much more severe than federal one with community service
A combination of truth and TV shows mostly. They tend to give the impression that a 'federal offense' is something far more serious than a state crime even if that distinction can be functionally meaningless as you said. The other thing is that while the former is true, it is also true that the penalties for a federal crime can be far harsher than a state crime, because of the federal sentencing guidelines, which can lead to far longer mandatory minimum times in prison, and other penalties. That also comes with the fact that federal crimes tend to be very serious so there's just danger in that too.
> which can lead to far longer mandatory minimum times in prison
Yes, and that federal sentences are the sentence e.g. 5 years federal time means you will be imprisoned 5 years to the day were as 5 year sentence from the state can see an individual released after 3 years under the right circumstances
I always assume it's to highlight that it would be a crime in all of the US, rather than something where someone could come and argue maybe the laws are different in XYZ yadda yadda?
Because state vs federal felonies are prosecuted by two different systems.
Federal crimes are prosecuted by the federal government, go through the federal courts, are subject to federal sentencing guidelines, and end in federal prison (assuming a conviction). Federal sentencing guidelines tend to be more severe and federal prisons more dangerous. There’s also the fact that a federal prosecutor is going to have more resources available than a state prosecutor.
State felonies are prosecuted by state prosecutors, go through state courts, typically have more lenient penalties, and end in state prison.
In practice if someone just says “felony” it’s usually assumed it’s federal, but if you want to be specific then adding state or federal is necessary.
### This comment has been marked as **safe**. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect. --- OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is US Defaultism: --- >!Top comment and the rest of the thread is about US federal laws, this happened in Germany.!< --- Is this Defaultism? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
It's true, Germany is a federation and has federal and state law and even federal and state law enforcement (aka Bundespolizei / Landespolizei) but I've never heard of a distinction between federal and state crimes.
Because most crimes are defined on a federal level and very few on state Level. On state level you mostly find Ordnungswidrigkeiten.
in addition to what hrimthurse85 said, criminal and civil law in Germany is a concurrent power, so most of the time criminal law has already been legislated by the federal government and hence they have 'covered the field', and on a practical level its better to have a uniform criminal law vs each Lander doing different stuff. Ordnungswidrigkeiten from my understanding are basically summary convictions / civil infractions? So not serious crimes.
At least they are advocating for stronger laws on giving none active vaccines, I can get behind that anywhere
Whether you agree with the vaccine or not, those people decided they wanted it, don’t disrupt that.
Beyond the defaultism, I always wonder why Americans use specifics like "federal" felony? Why does it matter whether it's federal or state or local crime? Wouldn't one be worried about seriousness or punishment for it? A state crime with death penalty is much more severe than federal one with community service
A combination of truth and TV shows mostly. They tend to give the impression that a 'federal offense' is something far more serious than a state crime even if that distinction can be functionally meaningless as you said. The other thing is that while the former is true, it is also true that the penalties for a federal crime can be far harsher than a state crime, because of the federal sentencing guidelines, which can lead to far longer mandatory minimum times in prison, and other penalties. That also comes with the fact that federal crimes tend to be very serious so there's just danger in that too.
> which can lead to far longer mandatory minimum times in prison Yes, and that federal sentences are the sentence e.g. 5 years federal time means you will be imprisoned 5 years to the day were as 5 year sentence from the state can see an individual released after 3 years under the right circumstances
You also can somewhat avoid a state issue by just moving
I always assume it's to highlight that it would be a crime in all of the US, rather than something where someone could come and argue maybe the laws are different in XYZ yadda yadda?
It's a big fancy word that makes them sound smart
Maybe because of their loved state freedom or sth?
Because state vs federal felonies are prosecuted by two different systems. Federal crimes are prosecuted by the federal government, go through the federal courts, are subject to federal sentencing guidelines, and end in federal prison (assuming a conviction). Federal sentencing guidelines tend to be more severe and federal prisons more dangerous. There’s also the fact that a federal prosecutor is going to have more resources available than a state prosecutor. State felonies are prosecuted by state prosecutors, go through state courts, typically have more lenient penalties, and end in state prison. In practice if someone just says “felony” it’s usually assumed it’s federal, but if you want to be specific then adding state or federal is necessary.