Texas Criminal Laws: Felonies, Misdemeanors and Penalties

Texas criminal laws divide offenses into misdemeanors and felonies, with punishments set primarily by the Texas Penal Code and, for drug crimes, the Texas Health and Safety Code. The punishment for any given charge depends on three things: the class or degree of the offense, the specific facts (weapons, victims, drug weights, dollar values), and the defendant’s prior record. What follows is a working map of how those pieces fit together.

Misdemeanor Classes and What They Cost

Misdemeanors are the lower tier. Texas splits them into three classes, and all misdemeanor sentences are served in county jail rather than state prison.

Class C misdemeanor: a fine of up to $500 with no jail time. Most traffic tickets and minor ordinance violations sit here.
Class B misdemeanor: up to 180 days in county jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
Class A misdemeanor: up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.

County jail time is usually shorter than a prison sentence and closer to home, which matters for visitation and for keeping a job.

Felony Levels From State Jail to Capital

Felonies carry far heavier consequences and come in five levels.

State jail felony: 180 days to two years in a state jail facility, which is separate from the state prison system, plus a fine of up to $10,000.
Third-degree felony: two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Second-degree felony: two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
First-degree felony: five to 99 years or life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Capital felony: life without parole, or death if the state seeks the death penalty. A defendant who was under 18 at the time of the offense receives life with the possibility of parole rather than life without parole.

In a capital case where prosecutors do not seek death, an adult conviction still results in mandatory life without parole. The jury does not choose between a term of years and life.¹

Repeat Offender Enhancements

Section 12.42 of the Penal Code raises the punishment range for a new felony when the defendant has prior felony convictions, and the jumps are steep.

Third-degree felony with one prior felony: punished as a second-degree felony (two to 20 years).
Second-degree felony with one prior felony: punished as a first-degree felony (five to 99 years or life).
First-degree felony with one prior felony: 15 to 99 years or life, plus a potential $10,000 fine.
Any non-state-jail felony with two prior sequential felonies: 25 to 99 years or life. The second prior conviction must have become final after the first one did.

Repeat convictions for sexually violent crimes or human trafficking can trigger mandatory life without parole or elevation to a capital felony.²

Violent Offenses Against People

Assault and Aggravated Assault

Texas defines assault broadly. You commit assault by intentionally or recklessly causing bodily injury to another person, threatening someone with imminent injury, or making physical contact you know the person will find offensive.³ A basic assault causing bodily injury is a Class A misdemeanor, but the class rises quickly based on who the victim is. An assault on a family member can become a felony without any weapon involved.

Aggravated assault applies when the offender causes serious bodily injury or uses a deadly weapon. It is a second-degree felony in most cases and a first-degree felony when the victim is a public servant, security officer, witness, or family member.

Homicide

Texas recognizes several forms of criminal homicide, distinguished by the defendant’s mental state.

Criminally negligent homicide: causing a death by failing to perceive a risk you should have seen. State jail felony.
Manslaughter: causing a death through reckless behavior. Second-degree felony.
Murder: intentionally or knowingly causing a death, or committing a clearly dangerous act that causes death. First-degree felony, five to 99 years or life.
Capital murder: murder with specific aggravating circumstances.

Capital murder covers situations such as killing a peace officer or firefighter on duty, murder during a kidnapping, robbery, or sexual assault, killing a child under ten, murder for hire, and killing more than one person in the same criminal episode or in a connected scheme.⁴

Property Crimes and Theft Values

Theft

Theft classification depends almost entirely on the value of what was taken. Section 31.03 sets the ladder:

Less than $100: Class C misdemeanor.
$100 to $749: Class B misdemeanor.
$750 to $2,499: Class A misdemeanor.
$2,500 to $29,999: state jail felony.
$30,000 to $149,999: third-degree felony.
$150,000 to $299,999: second-degree felony.
$300,000 or more: first-degree felony.

Certain items bump the class regardless of value. Stealing a firearm is always at least a state jail felony. Stealing a catalytic converter worth less than $30,000 in replacement costs is a state jail felony. With two or more prior theft convictions of any grade, a theft under $2,500 rises to a state jail felony.⁵

Robbery and Burglary

Robbery is theft combined with force or threats against a person. The core offense is a second-degree felony. Aggravated robbery rises to a first-degree felony when the offender causes serious bodily injury, uses a deadly weapon, or targets someone 65 or older or disabled.⁶

Burglary is different. It focuses on unauthorized entry rather than confrontation. You commit burglary by entering a building or home without consent with the intent to commit a felony, theft, or assault inside. Inserting part of your body through a window counts as entry. Burglary of a habitation is a second-degree felony and rises to a first-degree felony when the intent inside was to commit a felony other than theft.⁷

Drug and DWI Penalties

Driving While Intoxicated

You are legally intoxicated in Texas at a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher, or when you have lost the normal use of mental or physical faculties due to alcohol or drugs.⁸ Penalties escalate with each conviction.

First offense: up to a $2,000 fine, up to 180 days in jail with three mandatory days, and license suspension up to a year.
Second offense: up to a $4,000 fine, one month to one year in jail, and license suspension up to two years.
Third offense: a $10,000 fine, two to ten years in prison (now a felony), and license suspension up to two years.

A separate state fine of $3,000, $4,500, or $6,000 is imposed at sentencing depending on the circumstances. A DWI with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more is automatically a Class A misdemeanor, even on a first offense.⁹

Controlled Substance Possession

Chapter 481 of the Health and Safety Code sorts controlled substances into four main penalty groups, with additional sub-groups added for substances like fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoids.¹⁰ Penalty Group 1, which includes methamphetamine and opioids, carries the harshest consequences.

Possession of a Penalty Group 1 substance breaks down by weight:

Less than 1 gram: state jail felony.
1 to 3.99 grams: third-degree felony.
4 to 199 grams: second-degree felony.
200 to 399 grams: first-degree felony.
400 grams or more: enhanced first-degree felony, 10 to 99 years or life, plus up to a $100,000 fine.

Those weights include any cutting agents or fillers mixed with the drug, not just the pure substance. A small amount of active drug in a larger quantity of filler gets weighed as one unit.¹¹

Marijuana

Marijuana has its own weight ladder under Section 481.121, and there is no legal recreational marijuana in Texas as of 2026.

Two ounces or less: Class B misdemeanor.
More than two ounces but four ounces or less: Class A misdemeanor.
More than four ounces but five pounds or less: state jail felony.
More than five pounds but 50 pounds or less: third-degree felony.
More than 50 pounds but 2,000 pounds or less: second-degree felony.
More than 2,000 pounds: enhanced first-degree felony, five to 99 years or life, plus up to a $50,000 fine.

Even small-amount marijuana possession begins as a Class B misdemeanor with potential jail time.¹²

Mental State Requirements

Most Texas crimes require the state to prove not only what you did but the mental state you had when you did it. Section 6.03 defines four levels, from most to least culpable.

Intentional: you had a conscious goal to engage in the conduct or cause the result.
Knowing: you were aware of what you were doing or that your conduct was reasonably certain to cause the result, even if causing it was not your specific goal.
Reckless: you were aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk but consciously ignored it, in a way that is a gross departure from how a reasonable person would act.
Criminally negligent: you should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk but failed to recognize it, and that failure is a gross departure from ordinary care.

The line between reckless and criminally negligent turns on whether you actually saw the risk and ignored it, or simply failed to notice one that should have been obvious. That distinction is often the difference between a manslaughter charge and a criminally negligent homicide charge.¹³

Self-Defense and the Castle Doctrine

Texas allows the use of force in self-defense when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against another person’s unlawful force. You do not have to retreat first, provided you are in a place you have a right to be, did not provoke the confrontation, and are not engaged in criminal activity at the time.¹⁴

Deadly force is justified when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against deadly force, or to stop someone from committing murder, aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.¹⁵

The Castle Doctrine adds a presumption in your home, vehicle, or workplace. If someone unlawfully forces their way into one of those locations, the law presumes your belief that deadly force was necessary was reasonable, so long as you did not provoke the encounter and were not engaged in criminal activity beyond a minor traffic violation.

The limits are strict. Force is never justified in response to words alone. You cannot use force to resist an arrest you know is being made by a peace officer, even if the arrest is unlawful. If you started the fight, you lose the defense unless you clearly tried to walk away and the other person kept coming.¹⁴

Deadlines to File Charges

The statute of limitations sets a deadline for prosecutors to file charges. Once it runs out, the state cannot bring the case regardless of the evidence.

Some crimes have no limitations period at all. These include murder, manslaughter, sexual assault of a child, continuous sexual abuse of a child, indecency with a child, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and human trafficking.¹⁶

For offenses that do have a deadline, the general periods are:

Ten years: forgery, arson, certain sexual assault charges, theft by a fiduciary, and some trafficking offenses.
Seven years: money laundering, credit or debit card abuse, Medicaid fraud, identity theft, and bigamy.
Five years: theft, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and injury to an elderly or disabled person.
Three years: most other felonies not covered by a specific longer period.
Two years: all misdemeanors.

For certain offenses against children, the clock does not begin running until the victim turns 18.

Clearing a Record After the Case

Texas offers two ways to deal with a criminal record after a case ends: expunction and nondisclosure. They are not interchangeable.

Expunction

Expunction erases the record. Once granted, the arrest and associated records are destroyed, and you can legally deny the arrest in most situations. Chapter 55 of the Code of Criminal Procedure governs the process. You may qualify if your case was dismissed, you were acquitted, you were arrested but never charged (after a waiting period), or you received a pardon. Expunction is generally not available when the case ended in a conviction or a plea deal with deferred adjudication.

Nondisclosure

An order of nondisclosure seals a record instead of destroying it. The arrest disappears from public background checks, but law enforcement and certain licensing agencies can still see it. Nondisclosure typically applies to cases resolved through deferred adjudication community supervision where the defendant completed all conditions and received a discharge and dismissal.

Waiting periods depend on the offense. For most misdemeanors, you can petition immediately after discharge. Misdemeanors involving assault, domestic violence, or sexual offenses require a two-year wait. Felonies require a five-year wait. During the waiting period, you cannot pick up any new convictions or deferred adjudication for anything beyond a fine-only traffic offense.¹⁷

Certain serious offenses permanently disqualify a person from sealing a record, so the specific statutory section that applies to your situation should be checked before filing a petition.

Help for Victims of Violent Crime

Victims of violent crimes in Texas can apply for financial help through the Crime Victims’ Compensation Program run by the Attorney General’s office. To qualify, the victim must have been injured through no fault of their own, the crime must have happened in Texas, and it must have been reported to law enforcement within a reasonable time. Applications are due within three years of the crime. The program covers physical and mental injuries but does not cover property crimes, ordinary car accidents, or identity theft.¹⁸

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.31 – Capital Felony
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.42 – Penalties for Repeat and Habitual Felony Offenders
3
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 22.01 – Assault
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 19.03 – Capital Murder
5
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 31.03 – Theft
6
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 29.03 – Aggravated Robbery
7
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 30.02 – Burglary
8
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 49.01 – Definitions
9
Texas Department of Transportation. Impaired Driving and Penalties
10
Justia. Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 481 – Texas Controlled Substances Act
11
State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code 481.115 – Offense: Possession of Substance in Penalty Group 1 or 1-B
12
State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code 481.121 – Offense: Possession of Marihuana
13
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 6.03 – Definitions of Culpable Mental States
14
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 9.31 – Self-Defense
15
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 9.32 – Deadly Force in Defense of Person
16
Justia. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 12 – Limitation
17
State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 411.0725 – Procedure for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision
18
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Crime Victims’ Compensation Eligibility: Find Out If You Qualify