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    Default Being Charged With a State vs Federal Felony

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: US LAW

    Is getting charged with a federal felony generally considered a much more grave and worse situation than getting charged with a state felony? And is it true that you can be convicted for the same charge in both jurisdictions? If that's true, why doesn't double jeopardy apply and how are the sentences usually served, concurrently or consecutively, i.e. first in a state facility then in a federal facility?

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    Default Re: State vs Federal Felony

    Quote Quoting ignoramus23
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    My question involves criminal law for the state of: US LAW

    Is getting charged with a federal felony generally considered a much more grave and worse situation than getting charged with a state felony?
    Just because it is a federal felony does not automatically make it more serious than a state felony. There is a general perception that federal crimes are more serious simply because many federal crimes cover acts that are themselves very serious. For example, an act of terrorism or espionage is a pretty serious act and as a result the penalties for committing those acts are pretty serious, too. It’s not because the crimes are federal crimes that make them serious, its the nature of the act committed that makes it serious. For example, a state conviction for rape of a child will be regarded as much more serious than, say, a federal tax evasion charge.

    Quote Quoting ignoramus23
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    And is it true that you can be convicted for the same charge in both jurisdictions? If that's true, why doesn't double jeopardy apply and how are the sentences usually served, concurrently or consecutively, i.e. first in a state facility then in a federal facility?
    One is not convicted of the same charge in both jurisdictions. However, the same act may violate both federal and state law, thus resulting in two different charges: one charge for violation of the state criminal law and one for violation of the federal criminal law. The reason this does not violate the double jeopardy provision of the Constitution is that each state and the federal government are separate sovereigns and the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the double jeopardy clause, which originally only limited the federal government, only applies to bar prosecution by the same sovereign for the same offense. In practice, double prosecution by both the feds and the state is not all that common. Instead, typically one jurisdiction will agree to pass on prosecution and let the other do it instead. But when they do both prosecute, if the defendant is convicted in both jurisdictions then how the sentence will be served will depend in part on the sentences themselves. It may be that the sentences will run concurrently, so that time spent in prison in one jurisdiction will also count for time served in the other. Where the sentence will be served first is something that is worked out between the two governments. There isn't a set rule that it always is served in one before the other; that is, no rule says the time would always start in federal prison and then the state or vice versa.

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