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A misdemeanor (American English)〔http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/misdemeanour,〕 or misdemeanour (British English) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as minor, petty, or summary offences) and regulatory offences. Many misdemeanors are punished with monetary fines. == Distinction between felonies and misdemeanors == In the United States, the federal government generally considers a crime punishable with incarceration for one year or less to be a misdemeanor. All other crimes are considered felonies. Many states also employ this distinction. A misdemeanor is considered a crime of low seriousness, and a felony one of high seriousness.〔(Felonies, Misdemeanors, Infractions – Different Degrees of Crime ) Accessed May 11, 2015〕 A principle of the rationale for the degree of punishment meted out is that the punishment should fit the crime.〔''Doing Justice: The Choice of Punishments'', A VONHIRSCH, 1976, p.220〕〔''Criminology'', Larry J. Siegel〕〔''An Economic Analysis of the Criminal Law as Preference-Shaping Policy'', Duke Law Journal, Feb 1990, Vol. 1, Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, 〕 One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. Measurements of the degree of seriousness of a crime have been developed.〔''Offense Seriousness Scaling: An Alternative to Scenario Methods'', Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Volume 9, Number 3, 309-322, James P. Lynch and Mona J. E. Danner, ()〕 The distinction between felonies and misdemeanors has been abolished by several common law jurisdictions (e.g. Australia〔(Crimes Act 1958 (Vic., Australia) s. 332B(1) ), (Crimes Act 1900 (NSW., Australia) s. 580E(1) )〕). These jurisdictions have generally adopted some other classification: in the Commonwealth nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the crimes are divided into summary offences and indictable offences. The Republic of Ireland, a former member of the Commonwealth, also uses these divisions. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「misdemeanor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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