What is considered a felony?

I am trying to understand Statutory Disqualifications questions.

What is the difference between a securities-related misdemeanor in past 10 years or a felony charge?

If there’s a question about a felony charge but not a conviction, then how should I proceed with decoding the question of statutory disqualification?

What about these scenarios: a speeding ticket, arrested for possession of weed 14 years ago or DUI?

How does the statutory disqualification play out in those 3 cases?

I appreciate your help in understanding the differences in these situations. I am trying to wrap my head around this.

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First off, let’s review a few definitions.

Charged: Accused of a crime
Convicted: Found guilty of a crime

Only convictions could be a statutory disqualification because even if someone is charged, they might not actually be found guilty.

There are typically three levels of severity of a crime, and it depends on the specifics of what occurred. Generally though:

Infraction: A minor offense that won’t go on your record, like a basic speeding ticket.
Misdemeanor: Crime like petty theft, DUI, manslaughter.
Felony: More serious crimes like grand theft or murder.

The question will tell you the severity of the charge/conviction so you don’t need to worry about that. In case you’re curious though…

A speeding ticket is most often an infraction, meaning it won’t even show up on a background check. If you’re going really fast it might be a misdemeanor, and repeated offenses could even be a felony.

Possession of weed is most commonly a misdemeanor. Possession of weed with intent to distribute will probably also be a misdemeanor, but could potentially be a felony. Lots of legal changes around this recently to reduce the severity and it varies a lot by state.

A DUI will also most likely be a misdemeanor but could be a felony.

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