List of Felonies in Virginia by Class and Penalty

Virginia sorts felonies into six classes under Virginia Code § 18.2-10, with Class 1 carrying life in prison and Class 6 carrying as little as a year in jail. The felonies in Virginia by class and penalty run from aggravated murder at the top to lower-level offenses where a judge can choose between state prison and a local jail term. A felony is any offense punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility; everything else is a misdemeanor.¹ A separate group of unclassified felonies sits outside this table, with sentencing ranges written directly into the statutes that create them.

The Six Classes at a Glance

The standard sentencing ranges under § 18.2-10 are:²

Class 1: life in prison, plus a fine of up to $100,000.
Class 2: 20 years to life, plus a fine of up to $100,000.
Class 3: 5 to 20 years, plus a fine of up to $100,000.
Class 4: 2 to 10 years, plus a fine of up to $100,000.
Class 5: 1 to 10 years, or at the court’s discretion up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
Class 6: 1 to 5 years, or at the court’s discretion up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

For Classes 1 through 4 the prison term is mandatory in the sense that no jail alternative exists; the judge must sentence within the statutory prison range. For Classes 5 and 6 the court or jury has a choice between the felony prison range and the jail-plus-fine alternative, which is why defense lawyers often call these “wobblers.”

Class 1 Felonies

Class 1 is reserved for aggravated murder and carries life in prison. Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021, so life imprisonment is now the maximum sentence for any offense in the Commonwealth.²

Virginia Code § 18.2-31 lists 13 specific forms of aggravated murder. Each requires a willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing combined with an aggravating circumstance. Those circumstances include killing a law enforcement officer to interfere with official duties; killing during a robbery or an abduction for ransom or with intent to defile; killing for hire; killing more than one person in a single act or within a three-year period; killing a child under 14 by an offender aged 21 or older; killing during a Schedule I or II drug trafficking offense; and killing as an act of terrorism.³ Without both the premeditation and the aggravating factor, the charge falls to first-degree murder under a different statute.

Class 2 Felonies

Class 2 offenses carry 20 years to life, plus a fine of up to $100,000. The 20-year floor is hard; a judge cannot go beneath it. These crimes involve either a killing without the specific aggravators required for Class 1, or extreme violence that stops short of homicide. Representative offenses include:

First-degree murder: a premeditated killing, or a killing during arson, rape, robbery, burglary, or abduction, that does not meet any Class 1 aggravating factor.⁴
Abduction with intent to extort money or for immoral purposes.⁵
Aggravated malicious wounding: shooting, stabbing, or otherwise injuring someone with intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill, where the victim suffers permanent and significant physical impairment.⁶
Armed nighttime burglary: breaking into an occupied dwelling at night with intent to commit a felony or larceny while armed with a deadly weapon.⁷

The dividing line between aggravated malicious wounding and ordinary malicious wounding turns on the outcome. Prosecutors do not have to prove the defendant intended a permanent injury; they must prove intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill, and that the victim was in fact permanently impaired.

Class 3 Felonies

Class 3 carries 5 to 20 years and a fine of up to $100,000. These are serious violent or property offenses that lack the catastrophic outcome or the aggravator that would push them into Class 2. Examples include:

Malicious wounding: injuring someone with intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill, where the victim does not suffer permanent and significant impairment.⁸
Nighttime burglary of a dwelling with intent to commit a felony or larceny, when the intruder is not armed. Adding a deadly weapon pushes the charge up to Class 2.⁷

The five-year minimum applies even to first-time offenders with sympathetic facts. There is no jail alternative at this level.

Class 4 Felonies

Class 4 carries 2 to 10 years and a fine of up to $100,000. Offenses in this class typically involve major property destruction or reckless conduct that endangers lives. Examples include:

Arson of an unoccupied dwelling or building. If someone is inside at the time, the charge escalates.⁹
Maliciously shooting inside an occupied building, or shooting at or throwing a missile at an occupied dwelling in a way that endangers lives.¹⁰

As with Class 3, the range is fixed. A judge cannot go below two years or swap in a local jail sentence.

Class 5 and Class 6 Felonies

Classes 5 and 6 differ structurally from the higher classes. The court or jury can impose the felony prison range, or it can treat the conviction more like a misdemeanor with up to 12 months in a local jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Either way, the conviction is still a felony on the person’s record.

Class 5 has a prison range of 1 to 10 years. Common offenses include involuntary manslaughter (causing death through criminal negligence rather than intentional conduct)¹¹ and computer fraud where the property or services obtained are worth $1,000 or more.¹²

Class 6 has a prison range of 1 to 5 years. Examples include felony animal cruelty (which typically requires a prior conviction within five years and a resulting death, or serious bodily injury or death to a dog or cat)¹³ and the distribution of a Schedule IV controlled substance.¹⁴

Judges weigh criminal history, the facts of the offense, and any mitigating circumstances when choosing between the prison track and the jail alternative. The difference between 12 months in a local jail and years in state prison is enormous, even though the conviction itself is a felony either way.

Unclassified Felonies

The Class 1 through 6 table is not the whole picture. Some Virginia felonies have their own sentencing ranges written into the statute that creates them, and those ranges can be more severe than any standard class.

The most prominent example is § 18.2-248, covering distribution and manufacturing of controlled substances. A first conviction for distributing a Schedule I or II drug (heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, and similar substances) carries 5 to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000. A second conviction raises the floor to five years with a three-year mandatory minimum, and permits a life sentence. A third or later conviction requires at least 10 years, all as mandatory minimum time, and again permits life. Manufacturing methamphetamine carries 10 to 40 years and a fine of up to $500,000. Trafficking certain quantities of specified drugs can trigger a five-year mandatory minimum, a fine of up to $1 million, and a maximum sentence of life.¹⁴

Burglary with intent to commit larceny under § 18.2-91 is another unclassified felony. It carries 1 to 20 years in prison, and the court has discretion to impose up to 12 months in jail instead. That range fits no standard class.¹⁵

How Much of a Virginia Sentence Is Actually Served

Virginia abolished discretionary parole in 1995. Under truth-in-sentencing, most people convicted of a felony must serve at least 85% of the sentence the court imposes. A 10-year sentence means a minimum of eight and a half years behind bars.¹⁶

Since July 2022, people convicted of certain nonviolent felonies can earn credits at a faster rate and potentially serve as little as 67% of their sentence through good behavior and program participation. Everyone else remains at the 85% floor. For violent felony convictions and offenders with prior violent records, Virginia’s sentencing guidelines recommend terms up to six times longer than what similar offenders served before parole was abolished.

Consequences That Attach Beyond the Sentence

The prison term or fine is only part of what a felony conviction costs. A conviction automatically strips the right to vote, serve on a jury, run for public office, become a notary public, and possess firearms.¹⁷ Only the Governor can restore civil rights other than firearms, through an application filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office once the person is no longer incarcerated.

Firearm rights follow a separate, harder path. Even after the Governor restores civil rights, a petition to the circuit court in the jurisdiction where the person lives or was convicted is required to regain the right to possess a gun. Federal law adds a nationwide layer: under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), anyone convicted of a felony in any state is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.¹⁸

On the employment side, federal law imposes no time limit on how far back a background check may report felony convictions. EEOC guidance directs employers to weigh the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since the conviction, and the relevance to the job, but that guidance is not a guaranteed shield against being screened out.¹⁹

For non-citizens, some Virginia felonies fall within the federal definition of an “aggravated felony” regardless of what Virginia calls them, and can lead to deportation and ineligibility for most immigration relief. Even a suspended sentence can count toward the one-year threshold that triggers that classification.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-8 Through 18.2-11 – Classification of Criminal Offenses and Punishment Therefor
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-10 – Punishment for Conviction of Felony; Penalty
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-31 – Aggravated Murder Defined; Punishment
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-32 – First and Second Degree Murder Defined
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-48 – Abduction with Intent to Extort Money or for Immoral Purpose
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-51.2 – Aggravated Malicious Wounding; Penalty
7
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-89 – Burglary; How Punished
8
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-51 – Shooting, Stabbing, Etc., with Intent to Maim, Kill, Etc.
9
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-77 – Burning or Destroying Dwelling House, Etc.
10
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-279 – Discharging Firearms or Missiles Within or at Building or Dwelling House
11
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-36 – How Involuntary Manslaughter Punished
12
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-152.3 – Computer Fraud; Penalty
13
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 3.2-6570 – Cruelty to Animals; Penalty
14
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-248 – Manufacturing, Selling, Giving, Distributing, or Possessing with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance; Penalties
15
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-91 – Entering Dwelling House, Etc., with Intent to Commit Larceny, Assault and Battery, or Certain Felonies
16
Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. 2024 Annual Report
17
Secretary of the Commonwealth. Restoration of Rights Process
18
Virginia State Police. Restoration of Firearm Rights
19
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII