Perverting the course of justice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In English or Irish law, perversion of the course of justice is a criminal offence in which someone acts in a manner that in some way prevents justice being served on either themselves or on a third party. Perverting the course of justice is an offence in common law. It carries a theoretical maximum sentence of life imprisonment, although no sentence of more than 10 years has been handed down in the past one hundred years.
Perversion of the course of justice takes the form of one of three acts:
- Fabrication or disposal of evidence
- Intimidating a witness or juror
- Threatening a witness or juror
It is also criminal to conspire with another to pervert the course of justice and to intend to pervert the course of justice.
Statutory versions of the offence exist in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. See, for example, Section 319 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), [1] where the maximum penalty is 14 years imprisonment.
Similar crimes include perjury, contempt of court and obstruction of justice.
[edit] High-profile persons convicted of perverting the course of justice
- Lionel Murphy, Justice of the High Court of Australia (later reversed on appeal)
- Jonathan Aitken
- Jeffrey Archer
- John Humble for the Wearside Jack hoax letters and tapes
- Nadine Milroy-Sloan, who knowingly falsely accused Neil Hamilton of rape
- Bruce Hyman, the only barrister in 800 years so convicted.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Perjury and Perversion of the Course of Justice Considered (PDF) - a primer on the legal details of the offence
