legal term in the United States Constitution and other documents
The charge of high crimes and misdemeanors covers allegations of misconduct by officials. Offenses by officials also include ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for non-officials, … Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › High_crimes_and_misdemeanors
High crimes and misdemeanors - Wikipedia
4 days ago - The charge of high crimes and misdemeanors covers allegations of misconduct by officials. Offenses by officials also include ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for non-officials, on the grounds that more is expected of officials by their oaths ...
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Merriam-Webster
merriam-webster.com › legal › high crime
HIGH CRIME Definition & Meaning | Merriam-Webster Legal
The meaning of HIGH CRIME is a crime of infamous nature contrary to public morality but not technically constituting a felony; specifically : an offense that the U.S. Senate deems to constitute an adequate ground for removal of the president, ...
Discussions

Why is the phrase "high crimes and misdemeanors" as opposed to "high crimes and felonies"..or even "felonies and misdemeanors"? From what I understand felonies are much worse than misdemeanors, so, that would be more befitting, or, did a felony not exist in the 1700s?
Misdemeanor and felony were terms that both existed, but didn't have the same technical existence as they do today. Misdemeanor should be taken literally: mis-demeanor, basically a form of bad behavior, which may or may not be illegal. "High crimes and misdemeanors" then means crimes and sufficiently bad behavior in office, not literally the commission of a crime classified as a misdemeanor. Felony was closer to the current technical, in that it was any crime bad enough that you would have to forfeit goods or land. But they might have had in mind that committing a felony, while bad, was not necessary relevant to whether you should hold office. A "high crime" would be a crime of corruption, moral turpitude, etc (felony or not) and a misdemeanor would then be a blanket term of "any behavior bad enough that congress thinks it warrants removal". So it's both more precise and broader than either "high crimes and felonies" and "felonies and misdemeanors" would have been. Note that felonies are specifically mentioned in regards to interstate extradition in the Constitution. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/legaladviceofftopic
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March 21, 2024
Why is crime increasing in major cities in the US?
A lot of crime isn’t getting prosecuted. Most criminals are treated as catch and release. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/ask
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April 12, 2023
Why do American cities have so much crime?
With regard to shootings, the problem is rooted in a extremely small group of people. In Washington DC it's, like, about five hundred people. They all have ten or more felony convictions apiece. See the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform’s GUN VIOLENCE PROBLEM ANALYSIS SUMMARY REPORT In homicide events, between 31-33 percent of victims and 50-57 percent of identified suspects were group-involved. In nonfatal shooting events, between 11-38 percent of victims and 15-60 percent of identified suspects were group-involved. At least 91 groups were identified among the victims and/or suspects of homicides and nonfatal shootings that took place from 2019-2020. Of those, 19 groups were involved in three or more nonfatal shootings/homicides. Across homicides, five core groups emerged as responsible for the most violent incidents. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/centrist
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March 1, 2023
CMV: Although we are experiencing the largest-ever year-over-year decline in homicides and violent crime is falling just as rapidly, Republicans will continue to insist that crime is a problem for political purposes.
So I want to point out a couple things: For starters, yes, homicides are down - but homicide numbers are largely skewed by gang violence in a small number of areas most people don’t go to. It's not necessarily representative of the type of crime people see and fear day to day. Property crime is trending up; this is real. The increase in property crime looks moderate at an overall national level, but it's more pronounced in specific areas. Like I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Brazen theft from stores, car break ins, and tolerance of open air drug use have skyrocketed in the past 5 years. Walking through downtown SF in 2019 vs today is night and day difference. And Oakland, OMG - a city that was trending up a few years ago looks like back to a war zone today. You can see it in the shops that have closed, you can see it on reddit boards in the cities, and you can see it in us recalling our DA and everyone looking to clean house in the elections. London Breed (our mayor) is rapidly trying to clean up now that she fears her job. The police try to paint rosier crime stats, but every local knows its because reporting has plummeted because the police don't do shit. This is seen in a few other cities - Portland is the poster child, but Seattle, Portland, LA, Philly, etc have had their recent issues. While I don't think this smaller number of cities is necessarily representative of America as a whole, it is evidence that a particular brand of BLM - defund the police rhetoric really did have its advocates and has some big failure data points. Those downtown cores of major cosmopolitan cities have majorly outsized impact even if their stats get masked in national averages. Like the theatre district of SF being blighted impacts an enormous metro region of 8+ million people, and impacts tourism / conventions / entertainment to the larger region. Yes republicans will probably play this up and fear monger and paint a worse picture than it is like they always do to us here in San Francisco, but the locals of these places ARE pissed and there is a real issue and not some purely fabricated scare tactic. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/changemyview
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Christopherstjohnlaw
christopherstjohnlaw.com › blog › what-is-a-high-level-crime
What Is A High-Level Crime? | The Law Offices Of Christopher St. John
May 14, 2025 - First-degree crimes are the most serious, while fourth-degree crimes are the least serious. However, all are offenses that are equivalent to felonies. Generally, high-level crimes refer to first-degree and second-degree crimes, as these are ...
Address   5 Greentree Center, Suite 213, 08053, Marlton
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LSD.Law
lsd.law › home › legal definitions
What is high crime? Simple Definition & Meaning · LSD.Law
November 17, 2025 - A "high crime" refers to a serious offense, often understood in the context of "high crimes and misdemeanors" as grounds for impeachment. It typically...
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Uslegalforms
legal-resources.uslegalforms.com › us legal forms › legal definitions › h › high crime
High Crime: Understanding Legal Definitions and Implications | US Legal Forms
Legal representation is crucial for defense. A high crime is a serious offense that is closely related to felonies, often involving significant harm.
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Justia
dictionary.justia.com › high crime
high crime Definition, Meaning & Usage | Justia Legal Dictionary
high crime - A severe offense against public ethics and morals, though it might not legally be a severe crime or felony
Find elsewhere
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Annenberg Classroom
annenbergclassroom.org › home › high crimes and misdemeanors
High Crimes and Misdemeanors – Annenberg Classroom
August 8, 2018 - As the legal definition of “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” is not specified, it generally means a serious offense.
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Quora
quora.com › What-is-the-definition-of-a-high-crime-rate-Why-is-this-important-How-is-the-crime-rate-measured
What is the definition of a high crime rate? Why is this important? How is the crime rate measured? - Quora
Realtor, former Soldier, Network engineer, pilot · Author has 14K answers and 13.6M answer views · 2y · You have to understand that the word high is subjective. Crime rate is measured by adding the number of each type of crime and divide by population.
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Federaldefendersny
blog.federaldefendersny.org › what-is-a-high-crime-area-and-what-does-that-mean
What is a “high-crime area” and what does that mean? – Federal Defenders of New York Second Circuit Blog
Professors Ben Grunwald, of Duke, and Jeffrey Fagan, of Columbia, examined two million NYPD stops from 2007-2012 and find that NYPD officers “call almost every block in the city high crime,” that “their assessments of whether an area is high crime are nearly uncorrelated with actual crime rates,” and “the racial composition of the area and the identity of the officer are stronger predictors of whether an officer calls an area high crime than the crime rate itself.”
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Wiktionary
en.wiktionary.org › wiki › high_crime
high crime - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Treason and bribery [in the United ... all cases which may fall under their heads. [...] A high crime is always understood to be some great offence against the State or the public; a misdemeanor is some petty offence in office, consisting of any kind of misbehaviour, or ill ...
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YourDictionary
yourdictionary.com › home › dictionary meanings › high-crime definition
High-crime Definition & Meaning | YourDictionary
High-crime definition: (law) A major crime, notably one subject to high justice, i.e. trial before the highest courts, which may impose the gravest punishments.
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The Law Dictionary
thelawdictionary.org › the law dictionary
HIGH CRIMES
November 4, 2011 - High crimes and misdemeanors are such immoral and unlawful acts as are nearly allied and equal in guilt to felony, yet, owing to some technical circumstance, do I not fall within the definition of “felony.” State ” v. Knapp, 6 Conn.
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TheFreeDictionary.com
legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com › High+Crimes+and+Misdemeanors
High Crimes and Misdemeanors legal definition of High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Generally, debate over the phrase high crimes and misdemeanors has split into two camps. The minority view is held by critics who undertake a literal reading of the Constitution. They maintain that high crimes means what it says—criminal activity—and argue that the Framers wanted only criminal activities to be the basis for impeachment.
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Americancornerstone
americancornerstone.org › home › high crimes and misdemeanors
High Crimes and Misdemeanors - American Cornerstone Institute
February 9, 2024 - Much of the controversy around the impeachment clause is about which offenses constitute grounds for impeachment. The first two offenses, treason, and bribery are very specifically defined. It is the undefined offenses of “high crimes and misdemeanors” which continues to be debated to this day.
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American Enterprise Institute
aei.org › home › what does “high crimes and misdemeanors” mean?
What Does "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" Mean? | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
October 21, 2024 - The key to unlocking that understanding in the case of the presidency is that the office is one of powers whose ends and limits are fixed by a specific set of duties. High crimes and misdemeanors are not limited to actual crimes but extend to an abuse or violation of the public trust in carrying out those duties.
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Misdemeanor and felony were terms that both existed, but didn't have the same technical existence as they do today. Misdemeanor should be taken literally: mis-demeanor, basically a form of bad behavior, which may or may not be illegal. "High crimes and misdemeanors" then means crimes and sufficiently bad behavior in office, not literally the commission of a crime classified as a misdemeanor. Felony was closer to the current technical, in that it was any crime bad enough that you would have to forfeit goods or land. But they might have had in mind that committing a felony, while bad, was not necessary relevant to whether you should hold office. A "high crime" would be a crime of corruption, moral turpitude, etc (felony or not) and a misdemeanor would then be a blanket term of "any behavior bad enough that congress thinks it warrants removal". So it's both more precise and broader than either "high crimes and felonies" and "felonies and misdemeanors" would have been. Note that felonies are specifically mentioned in regards to interstate extradition in the Constitution.
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Others explained it reasonably well but the tl;dr for folks is crimes are now all felonies or misdemeanors. Back at the time of the drafting of the Constitution, a high crime was official misconduct that wasn't explicitly unlawful per any statute, as such. While we we codify such things into actual statutes nowadays, that wasn't always the case. In fact, the ability to abuse such non-codified crimes is one reason why we do it the way we do now.
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Federalist Society
fedsoc.org › fedsoc-review › new-evidence-on-the-constitution-s-impeachment-standard-high-misdemeanors-means-serious-crimes
New Evidence on the Constitution’s Impeachment Standard: “high . . . Misdemeanors” Means Serious Crimes
November 7, 2024 - He argued that high misdemeanors ... defined high crimes and misdemeanors as comprising “abuses of power and public trust connected to the office of the presidency.”[5] Professor Michael Gerhardt contended that high crimes ...
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LegalBrief AI
legalbriefai.com › legal-terms › high-crime
high crime - Meaning in law and legal documents, Examples and FAQs | LegalBrief AI
For example, acts like bribery or corruption can be labeled as high crimes, even if they don't fit the legal definition of a felony. This distinction is important because it highlights how certain behaviors can undermine the public's trust in officials and institutions, even if they don't lead ...
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American University
digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu › aulr › vol57 › iss6 › 2
The "High-Crime Area" Question: Requiring Verifiable and Quantifiable Evidence for Fourth Amendment Reasonable Suspicion Analysis [pdf]
First, the "high crime area" in question would have to be marked by a higher incidence of particularized criminal activity than other areas of the jurisdiction. Second, the area at issue would have to be tailored to a specific geographic location and limited to a recent temporal finding of criminal activity.
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Office of Justice Programs
ojp.gov › ncjrs › virtual-library › abstracts › what-different-about-high-crime-areas
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT HIGH CRIME AREAS? | Office of Justice Programs
While personal crime rates also rose dramatically, prevalence accounted for the increase much more than vulnerability. Residents of high-crime areas experienced a much higher rate of multiple victimization, indicating that a program of preventing repeat crimes would more predictably address future events, compared with other types of initiatives in high- or low-crime areas.