FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL CRIMES IN ALL OF GEORGIA AND NORTH FLORIDA
Violent Crimes - Offenses involving an act of violence against another person. The violence can be verbal or mental making terroristic threats or stalking - but usually the violence is physical in nature. Examples of misdemeanors are assault, battery, sexual battery and stalking. Felony examples are murder, aggravated assault, manslaughter and aggravated stalking.
Sex Crimes - Offenses involving illegal sexual conduct. Examples of misdemeanors include pandering (soliciting a prostitute), indecent exposure, and sexual battery (uninvited sexual advances). Examples of felonies include rape, child molestation and possession of child pornography. These offenses are highly volatile in nature, and merely being investigated for such an offense can ruin a person's personal and professional reputation.
Drug Crimes - Offenses involving the possession, distribution, or sale of illegal drugs. Whether a particular offense is treated as a misdemeanor or a felony usually involves the weight or amount of the drugs involved. Normally, courts treat simple possession of drugs less seriously than selling or distributing drugs, as the user is seen partially as a victim in need of treatment by many judges whereas a dealer is viewed as part of the problem. There may also be considerable class bias in the punishment of these offenses as "upper class drugs" such as LSD, powder cocaine, and marijuana are punished less severely than "working class" or "inner city drugs" such as methamphetamine and crack rock cocaine.
Property Crimes - Offenses involving some type of allegation of taking or damaging the property of another person without their knowledge or consent. Misdemeanor examples include theft by shoplifting, theft by taking and criminal trespass. Felony examples include shoplifiting (depending on amount allegedly taken) burglary, robbery, forgery, and arson.
Crimes Against Public Order - Offenses involving some kind of action against a public official, a government institution, or a breach of the public peace. Examples of misdemeanors include disorderly conduct, public intoxication, failing to appear in court, unlawful assembly, and giving a false name or driver's license to a police officer. Examples of felonies are possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, treason, violent obstruction of a police officer, and violation of an oath of office. These types of cases may involve constitutional challenges as they can bump into constitutional protections under our Bill of Rights. At the same time, some of the more misdemeanor offenses may also be treated as "civil ordinance" violations, where the accused is allowed to pay a small fine for disturbing local community standards instead of being punished for a crime under state law.
Domestic Violence Crimes - This is really a sub-category of Violent Crimes, but deserves to be treated as a separate category. Domestic Violence offenses are relatively new as they are a political and legislative response to the increasing awareness of violent behavior between spouses and other persons living in the same house. They take crimes such as battery and simple assault, normally misdemeanors, and treat them as felonies if the accused and the victim are husband and wife or two people otherwise living together. The victim is also not allowed to dismiss the charges once the accused has been arrested and the prosecutor will attempt to prosecute the accused even if the victim (usually the spouse or other domestic partner) refuses to testify and wants the charges dismissed. The punishment for these charges has increased over the years, as public awareness of the problem of domestic violence increases.
Florida Juvenile Crime - Original jurisdiction of juvenile courts extends to delinquent children under the age of 18 age 18 and over you are an adult for criminal puposes and will be prosecuted in Florida County County Court for a Misdemeanor offense (a crime that carries 12 months or less in jail) or Circuit Court for a Felony offense (a crimen that carries more than 12 months in jail).
Georgia Juvenile Crime - Original jurisdiction of juvenile courts extends to delinquent children under the age of 17 age 17 and over you are an adult for criminal puposes and will be prosecuted in Georiga State Court for a Misdemeanor offense (a crime that carries 12 months or less in jail) or Superior Circuit Court for a Felony offense (a crimen that carries more than 12 months in jail). Most Georiga Cities have a Municipal Court that has jusrisdiction to prosecute some misdemeanors and traffic cases. Florida does not have any Municipal Courts.
DISCLAIMER - Using this website does not create an attorney client relationship between you and the firm or any individual attorney. None of the materials available at this site constitute legal advice. This site has been designed to provide you with general information regarding our firm, our attorneys, and the types of services we provide. If you need legal advice, or desire to establish an attorney client relationship with any of the firm's attorneys, please contact us.