Infamous Crime
Whether a crime is "infamous" is determined by the nature of the punishment that may be imposed, not the punishment that is actually imposed; however, crimes punishable by death must be tried upon indictments. In United States v. Moreland, 258 U.S. 433 (1922), the Supreme Court held that incarceration in a prison or penitentiary, as opposed to a correction or reformation house, attaches infamy to a crime. In Mackin v. United States, 117 U.S. 348 (1886), the Supreme Court judged that "'Infamous crimes' are thus, in the most explicit words, defined to be those 'punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary.'", while it later in Green v. United States 365 U.S. 165 (1957), stated that "imprisonment in a penitentiary can be imposed only if a crime is subject to imprisonment exceeding one year". Therefore an infamous crime is one that is punished by imprisonment for over one year. Former defense attorney and Professor of Law at the University of Dayton School of Law Susan Brown concluded: "Since this is essentially the definition of a felony, infamous crimes translate as felonies."
Read more about this topic: Fifth Amendment To The United States Constitution
Famous quotes containing the words infamous and/or crime:
“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)
“A bad end, a sad end, was the last end of Mieze. And why, why, why? What crime had she committed? She came from Bernau into the whirl of Berlin, she was not an innocent girl, certainly not, but her love for him was pure and steadfast; he was her man and she took care of him like a child. She was struck down because she happened by chance to encounter this man; such is life, it’s really inconceivable.”
—Alfred Döblin (1878–1957)