Virginia Felony Laws: Classes, Sentences, and Consequences

Virginia sorts felonies into six classes under § 18.2-10, with punishments running from one year in prison at the lowest end up to life imprisonment and a $100,000 fine at the top. The Virginia felony classes and penalties below are the framework every felony sentence is built on, but they’re only part of what a conviction actually costs. Parole was abolished for felonies committed on or after January 1, 1995, so the sentence imposed is close to the time served, and a conviction permanently strips voting rights, jury eligibility, and the right to own a firearm until those rights are affirmatively restored.¹

The Six Felony Classes

Virginia Code § 18.2-10 sets the punishment range for each class. The lower the class number, the more severe the penalty.²

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

Class 5 and Class 6 are sometimes called “wobblers” because the judge or jury can treat them more like a misdemeanor at sentencing. The conviction still counts as a felony with all the long-term consequences that come with it, but the shorter jail term in place of prison can matter a great deal in a person’s life.

What Crimes Fall Into Each Class

The General Assembly assigns individual offenses to classes through separate statutes rather than one master list, so two crimes that sound similar can land in very different places depending on intent and injury.

Class 1 and Class 2

Class 1 covers aggravated murder, the label that replaced “capital murder” after Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021. It includes premeditated killing during a robbery or abduction, killing for hire, killing a law-enforcement officer to interfere with their duties, and killing more than one person in the same act or within a three-year period.³

Class 2 covers first-degree murder (premeditated killing that doesn’t meet the aggravated murder criteria, or killing during the commission of arson, rape, robbery, or burglary) and aggravated malicious wounding, which applies when the victim suffers permanent and significant physical impairment.⁴⁵

Class 3 and Class 4

Standard malicious wounding, where someone intentionally shoots, stabs, or otherwise injures another with intent to maim, disfigure, or kill but the injury doesn’t reach the permanent impairment threshold, is a Class 3 felony. Maliciously shooting into an occupied building is a Class 4 felony.⁶ The same act done recklessly rather than maliciously drops to a Class 6 felony, which shows how heavily the defendant’s mental state weighs in the classification.

Class 5 and Class 6

Involuntary manslaughter is a Class 5 felony.⁷ Basic abduction, where no additional aggravating factors like extortion or sexual assault apply, is also Class 5.⁸ Possession of Schedule I or II controlled substances and credit card theft are common Class 5 and Class 6 examples.

Unclassified Felonies and Firearm Enhancements

Not every felony fits the six-class table. The General Assembly sometimes writes a specific penalty into the statute that creates the offense, bypassing § 18.2-10 entirely. These “unclassified” or “statutory” felonies show up most often in drug and firearm laws.

Drug distribution under § 18.2-248 is the most common. Penalties scale with the type and quantity of the controlled substance, and many carry mandatory minimum prison terms that don’t correspond to any single felony class.⁹

Using a firearm during the commission of any felony triggers a separate sentence under § 18.2-53.1. A first conviction carries a mandatory minimum of three years, and a second or subsequent conviction raises the floor significantly. The sentence runs consecutively, meaning it stacks on top of the sentence for the underlying felony rather than running alongside it. A person convicted of both robbery and firearm use serves the combined total back to back.

How Much Time You’ll Actually Serve

Virginia abolished parole for any felony committed on or after January 1, 1995.¹⁰ Under § 53.1-165.1, anyone sentenced for a post-1994 felony “shall not be eligible for parole upon that offense.” The Parole Board still functions, but only for people convicted of pre-1995 felonies, certain jury-sentenced inmates in narrow circumstances, and people serving life sentences for crimes committed as juveniles who have served at least 20 years.

The only way to shorten a post-1994 sentence is through earned sentence credits under § 53.1-202.3, and the rate depends on the offense.¹¹

For violent and serious offenses, including murder, malicious wounding, kidnapping, robbery, carjacking, and sexual assault, the maximum credit is 4.5 days per 30 days served. That’s roughly a 13% reduction at best; a 10-year sentence for a violent felony works out to at least about 8 years and 8 months.

For all other felonies, credits are earned on a four-level scale tied to behavior and program participation:

Level I: 15 days off for every 30 days served, roughly a third off the sentence.
Level II: 7.5 days off per 30 days served, roughly a 20% reduction.
Level III: 3.5 days off per 30 days served, roughly a 10% reduction.
Level IV: No credits earned.

Credits come from work assignments, educational programs, and clean disciplinary records. They’re not automatic, and misconduct can take them away. An inmate who falls from Level I to Level III or IV serves considerably more time. Because there’s no parole board at the back end, the sentence a court imposes is close to what you’ll actually serve.¹²

Virginia also has no statute of limitations on felonies, so a charge can be brought regardless of how long ago the alleged offense occurred.

Mandatory Restitution

For any felony committed on or after July 1, 1995, that caused property damage, property loss, or medical and funeral expenses, restitution is mandatory. A court cannot place you on probation or suspend your sentence unless you’ve at least begun paying restitution, performed community service, or submitted a feasible payment plan.¹³

Restitution covers out-of-pocket losses: stolen or damaged property, medical bills, and burial costs tied directly to the offense. It does not cover pain and suffering or attorney fees. The amount is set before sentencing based on evidence from the victim, the prosecution, and the probation office, and the obligation follows you through incarceration and after release. Failure to pay can lead to revocation of a suspended sentence or probation.

Consequences Beyond Prison

A felony sentence is only part of what a conviction costs. The collateral effects reach into civil rights, firearm ownership, employment, housing, and immigration status, and most of them persist long after any sentence is served.

Loss of Civil Rights

Conviction automatically strips the right to vote, serve on a jury, run for public office, become a notary public, and possess a firearm. These losses take effect at conviction, not at sentencing, and they continue indefinitely unless the Governor restores them.¹⁴

Federal Firearms Ban

On top of the state restriction, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) makes it a separate federal crime for anyone convicted of a felony to possess, ship, or receive a firearm or ammunition. A violation carries up to 15 years in federal prison, and under the Armed Career Criminal Act, a defendant with three or more qualifying prior convictions faces a 15-year mandatory minimum. The federal ban applies even if Virginia later restores your other civil rights.

DNA Collection

Every person convicted of a felony in Virginia must provide a blood, saliva, or tissue sample for DNA analysis before release from custody. If the sentence doesn’t include incarceration, providing the sample becomes a condition of the sentence. Samples go into the state DNA data bank maintained by the Department of Forensic Science.¹⁵

Employment and Housing

Virginia bars local government employers from asking about criminal history on an initial job application. The question can come up during or after an interview, just not on the application itself, and exceptions apply for law-enforcement positions, school board jobs, and roles involving public safety or access to sensitive information.¹⁶ The rule does not reach private employers.

Federal law does not categorically bar people with felony convictions from public housing or Housing Choice Vouchers. Only two groups face mandatory exclusion: people convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing, and sex offenders subject to lifetime registration. Beyond those, local housing authorities set their own screening policies.¹⁷

Immigration

For non-citizens, a Virginia felony conviction can trigger removal proceedings. The consequences are especially severe for convictions classified under federal immigration law as “aggravated felonies,” a category that despite its name reaches many offenses that are not aggravated in the ordinary sense. A person convicted of an aggravated felony may be deported without a hearing before an immigration judge, held in mandatory detention, and permanently barred from asylum, cancellation of removal, and most other forms of relief. Felonies that fall under “crimes involving moral turpitude” can also trigger removal even when they’re not classed as aggravated.

Restoring Rights and Sealing a Record

The Virginia Constitution gives the Governor sole discretion to restore civil rights after a felony conviction. To apply, you must be free from any term of incarceration. Applications go through the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office.¹

Restoration covers voting, jury service, running for office, and serving as a notary public. It does not cover firearm rights. The Governor has no authority to restore the right to possess firearms; that requires a separate petition to the circuit court. Even after voting rights come back, possessing a firearm remains a state and federal crime until the court process is also completed.¹⁴

Starting July 1, 2026, Virginia’s new record-sealing law lets people convicted of certain felonies petition the circuit court to seal their criminal history. Eligibility is narrow: only Class 5 and Class 6 felonies, grand larceny, and other felonies punished as larceny qualify. Class 1 through Class 4 felonies, violent felonies, sex offenses, and firearm-related crimes are not eligible.¹⁸

The waiting period for a felony is 10 years, measured from the latest of three dates: the conviction, release from incarceration, or release from incarceration following a probation or parole violation on the same case. Throughout that 10-year window, you cannot have been convicted of any reportable offense in Virginia or elsewhere; traffic infractions don’t count.¹⁹ Filing costs nothing. The petition goes to the circuit court where the case was originally resolved, and the Commonwealth’s Attorney has 30 days to object. Sealing applies only to adult offenses and cases where a juvenile was tried as an adult, and a sealed record remains visible to law enforcement and certain government agencies even though it won’t show up on standard background checks.

1
Commonwealth of Virginia. Restoration of Rights
2
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 18.2-10 – Punishment for Conviction of Felony; Penalty
3
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 18.2-31 – Aggravated Murder Defined; Punishment
4
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia – Article 1, Homicide
5
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 18.2-51.2 – Aggravated Malicious Wounding; Penalty
6
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 18.2-279 – Discharging Firearms or Missiles Within or at Building or Dwelling House
7
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 18.2 – 18.2-36
8
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia – Article 3, Kidnapping and Related Offenses
9
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 18.2-248 – Manufacturing, Selling, Giving, Distributing, or Possessing With Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance; Penalties
10
Virginia Parole Board. About the Parole Board
11
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 53.1-202.3 – Rate at Which Sentence Credits May Be Earned
12
Virginia Department of Corrections. Time Computation
13
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 19.2-305.1 – Restitution for Property Damage or Loss
14
Commonwealth of Virginia. Restoration of Rights Process
15
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia – Article 1.1, DNA Analysis and Data Bank
16
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 15.2-1505.3 – Localities Prohibited From Inquiring About Arrests, Charges, or Convictions on Employment Applications
17
HUD Exchange. Are Applicants With Felonies Banned From Public Housing or Any Other Housing Funded by HUD
18
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 19.2-392.12 – Sealing of Offenses Resulting in Conviction or Deferred Dismissal
19
Virginia State Crime Commission. Frequently Asked Questions – Virginia’s Criminal Record Sealing Laws