Felonies vs Misdemeanors

The Difference Between a Felony and a Misdemeanor in Massachusetts

Massachusetts draws the line with one question: can the offense be punished by a state prison sentence? An offense that carries any possible state prison sentence is a felony. An offense that can be punished only by a fine, a county house of correction sentence, or both is a misdemeanor. The label depends on the maximum the statute allows, not on the sentence a defendant actually receives, so a person who serves house of correction time for a felony has still been convicted of a felony.

The distinction controls more than the available sentence. It determines where the case can be prosecuted, whether a clerk-magistrate hearing is available, how long a conviction waits before sealing, what an employer may ask, and how immigration law treats the disposition. The sections below walk through each consequence.

The Massachusetts Legislature defines felonies and misdemeanors in the General Laws of Massachusetts, at chapter 274, section 1. In a rare moment of clarity, our legislature wrote in section 1: “A crime punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison is a felony. All other crimes are misdemeanors.” The death penalty has been abolished in Massachusetts state courts, but exists in the federal courts.

Understanding the difference between state prisons and houses of correction described above is therefore the key to understanding the difference between felonies and misdemeanors in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts’s two criminal trial courts, the district (or, in Boston, “municipal”) courts, and the superior courts, play an important role in the distinction between felonies and misdemeanors. The Massachusetts district courts cannot hear offenses that carry only a state prison sentence.

For example, murder in Massachusetts is a felony under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 265, section 1. A person convicted of murder in Massachusetts can be sentenced only to state prison. Therefore, only the superior court can hear a Massachusetts murder case. However, a person convicted of attempted murder in Massachusetts can be sentenced either to the house of correction or state prison. Attempted murder is also a felony under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, section 16 because it carries a possible state prison sentence. However, either the superior court or district court can hear an attempted murder prosecution because it also carries a possible house of correction sentence as well as a state prison sentence.

So, in a nutshell, the district court can hear felonies that carry both possible state prison sentences and house of correction sentences at the trial level. The Massachusetts superior court has the power to hear any criminal prosecution at the trial level of a Massachusetts criminal case.

Felonies

In Massachusetts, a felony is defined as a crime that can be punished by a state prison sentence up to and including life in prison. If the law that a person is charged with committing includes a possible state prison sentence, it is considered a felony in Massachusetts. Felony crimes involve drug and narcotics charges, arson, burglary, armed robbery, murder and/or attempted murder, rape and/or sexual assault, kidnapping and aggravated assault and battery. A felony conviction is a serious matter that can result in a substantial state prison sentence, the loss of certain privileges and Constitutional rights of U.S. citizenship, and for non-citizens the loss of residence or other immigration benefits. A Massachusetts felony can also lead to loss of the right to possess a firearm or the right to vote, and loss of your job.

Some of the felonies this office defends most often are less dramatic than the list above and much more common. Drug distribution and trafficking charges, often growing out of a traffic stop. Unlawfully carrying a firearm, which catches lawful gun owners from other states who did not know their permit means nothing here. Larceny over $1,200, which is the line that turns an ordinary theft charge into a felony. Stalking, including stalking in violation of a restraining order, which carries a mandatory minimum. And intimidation of a witness, which prosecutors charge whenever someone asks an accuser to drop a case, and which turns a misdemeanor dispute into a felony prosecution overnight.

Misdemeanors

In Massachusetts, a misdemeanor is defined as an offense that cannot be punished by a state prison sentence. Typical sentences for misdemeanors in Massachusetts include incarceration in the house of correction or periods of probation. Misdemeanors can be serious. Unlike felonies, which are ordinarily heard in state superior court, misdemeanors are usually handled by the district or municipal court.

The misdemeanors that fill the district court sessions every morning are the ones ordinary people get charged with. Shoplifting and larceny under $1,200. First-offense OUI. Negligent operation, leaving the scene, and operating after suspension, which arrive as citations with a four-day clock on them. Fake ID charges against college students. Simple assault and battery, including assault and battery on a family or household member. And violating a 209A or 258E order, which is a misdemeanor by classification but is prosecuted as seriously as anything on this list; the details are in the 209A and 258E Violation FAQs. Two things make misdemeanors deceptively dangerous. Most of them still create a permanent CORI entry at arraignment. And many carry consequences the label hides, license loss, immigration exposure, and board reporting, which is why a misdemeanor should never be defended casually.

Why the Difference Matters

The felony and misdemeanor labels do a lot more work than deciding which courthouse you visit. Here are the differences that change a case.

How the case begins. For most misdemeanors where police did not make an arrest, you have a statutory right to a private clerk-magistrate hearing under M.G.L. c. 218, § 35A before any complaint can issue, which means the case can end before it ever creates a record. Felonies work differently. A felony that carries only a state prison sentence must be prosecuted by grand jury indictment, and the most serious cases go to the Superior Court that way. The full sequence is at How Criminal Cases Begin in Massachusetts. A complaint that issued without the required hearing can be dismissed, though without prejudice. Commonwealth v. DiBennadetto, 436 Mass. 310, 313-314 (2002). A denial at the hearing is not final either. In Cabrera v. Commonwealth, 496 Mass. 179 (2025), the Supreme Judicial Court held that collateral estoppel did not bar a second application filed two and a half years after a clerk-magistrate denied the first, because the denial was not a final judgment, and that the delay did not violate due process where the defendant made no showing of severe prejudice to the defense. Most denied applications are never brought again, but the outer limit is the statute of limitations for the offense, six years for most crimes. G. L. c. 277, § 63. The full rule is on our page on how Massachusetts criminal cases get dismissed.

How long the record follows you. Sealing waiting periods track the classification. Under M.G.L. c. 276, § 100A, a misdemeanor conviction can be sealed on petition to the Commissioner of Probation after three years, a felony after seven. The details are at Sealing and Expunging Your Criminal Record and Massachusetts Criminal Records and CORI.

What else a felony carries with it. A felony conviction disqualifies a person from possessing a firearm under federal law, is a reportable event for licensed professionals, a serious problem for students, and for non-citizens frequently the difference between staying and removal. One caution about the federal firearms consequence, because the Massachusetts label does not control it. The federal prohibition in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) applies to a conviction for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, and 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20)(B) excludes from that definition only a state offense “classified by the laws of the State as a misdemeanor and punishable by a term of imprisonment of two years or less.” A great many Massachusetts misdemeanors carry two and one half years in a house of correction. Those exceed the exclusion, so a Massachusetts misdemeanor conviction punishable by two and one half years is a federal firearms predicate even though the Commonwealth does not call it a felony. The same subsection also provides that a conviction expunged or set aside, or for which the person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored, is not a conviction for this purpose unless that relief expressly withholds firearms rights.

This is why charge selection and plea negotiation in Massachusetts is often really a negotiation about classification, reducing a felony to a misdemeanor, or resolving a case in a way that avoids a conviction entirely. The disposition options are at Pretrial Probation, Continuances Without a Finding, and Diversion in Massachusetts.

Where These Cases Are Heard

The felony and misdemeanor labels also answer a question people ask constantly. Which court will my case be in?

Every misdemeanor belongs in the District Court or the Boston Municipal Court. So do most felonies, because the District Court has jurisdiction over felonies punishable by up to five years in state prison, along with a list of specifically enumerated offenses. Here is the practical point hiding in that rule. Even when a District Court case involves a felony, the District Court can only impose house of correction time. The state prison sentence printed in the statute drops out of the case as long as it stays in the district court or BMC.

The most serious felonies are heard in the Superior Court, which is the only court that can impose a state prison sentence. Cases arrive there by grand jury indictment. Sometimes the indictment is the first event in the case. More often, the case starts in the District Court after an arrest. The District Attorney decides later whether to indict, which means the early weeks of a serious felony case are frequently spent working to keep it from being indicted. A case that stays in the District Court is a case with a lower penalty. The court structure, and what house of correction and state prison sentences mean, is covered at Massachusetts Courts, State Prison, and House of Correction.

Attorney Serpa has spent thirty years in these courthouses, defending felonies and misdemeanors in the Boston Municipal Court, including its Central, Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston, and West Roxbury divisions, and across the District Courts of Greater Boston:

• Cambridge District Court
• Somerville District Court
• Newton District Court
• Brookline District Court
• Waltham District Court
• Malden District Court
• Woburn District Court
• Concord District Court
• Framingham District Court
• Dedham District Court
• Quincy District Court
• Hingham District Court
• Brockton District Court

Felony cases that are indicted go to the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn and Lowell, and the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, and Attorney Serpa defends them there too. For the complete list of 48 District Court and BMC divisions, see Courts We Serve Across Greater Boston. If you are trying to figure out whether your charge is a felony or a misdemeanor and what court it belongs in, that is a five-minute phone call. Contact Serpa Law Office at 617.936.0201 for a free consultation. Boston office: 20 Park Plaza #400A. Quincy office: 500 Victory Rd., Suite 400A. Available 24 hours a day.

Related Serpa Law Office resources

• The Massachusetts Criminal Process: From Clerk-Magistrate Hearing to Trial
• How Criminal Cases Begin in Massachusetts
• Clerk-Magistrate Hearings in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Grand Jury Indictments
• Massachusetts Courts, State Prison, and House of Correction
• Sealing and Expunging Your Massachusetts Criminal Record
• Massachusetts Criminal Records and CORI
• Pretrial Probation, Continuances Without a Finding, and Diversion in Massachusetts
• Criminal Violation of a 258E Harassment Prevention Order
• Massachusetts 209A and 258E Violation FAQs
• Massachusetts Traffic Stops, Exit Orders, and Pretext Searches
• Phone, Computer, and Digital Device Searches in Massachusetts
• Self-Defense in Massachusetts
• Immigration Consequences of Massachusetts Criminal Charges
• Massachusetts Criminal Defense Results