shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress

A not uncommon patron question that I have encountered is this: a rather sheepish inquiry as to whether there exists a list of crimes designated felonies and those designated misdemeanors.  Normally the place to check is the appropriate State or Federal code.  As innocuous as this advice sounds, the task can seem quite formidable to the pro se: often such matters are not so easily spelled out and some infractions are spread out throughout the code rather than in the Criminal or Penal Article.  No wonder that pro se’s respond to this suggested research route by a rather annoyed, “Don’t you just have a list?”  In Maryland, we do have something that can serve as a list—The Maryland Sentencing Guidelines Manual and its Guidelines Offense Table, both available from the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy.I can’t say how many other states spell out whether a crime is a misdemeanor or felony in the same way as Maryland.  But if you are interested, you might want to check out Stanford Law School’s list of state sentencing commissions.  Follow the links to the state of interest.