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by kyledrake 3573 days ago
This definitely needs much more elaboration. Felonies are reserved for very serious crimes. It should take much more than an unauthorized pizza purchase.
4 comments

> Felonies are reserved for very serious crimes

Not true in any real sense. I've seen a State of Texas employee charged with a felony for making a $0.25 personal call from a state telephone back in the early 90's.

The unreal magnitude of criminalization of "normal" behavior in the US is beyond anything most people can imagine.

> Felonies are reserved for very serious crimes.

This is true only in the tautological sense, in which designation of something as "felony" is held to designate it as a "very serious" crime.

Beyond that, no. In fact, this is expressly recognized many places in law, such as California's three-strikes law, where a "strike" is a "violent or serious" felony.

"Felonies are reserved for very serious crimes."

False. It's a real problem that people think this. No wonder our justice system in the US is so fucked up. People don't even know what's happening.

Adultery is a felony in Michigan, though it's obviously not really enforced.