![]() |
Criminal law |
---|
Elements |
Scope of criminal liability |
Severity of offense |
|
Inchoate offenses |
Offense against the person |
|
Sexual offenses |
Crimes against property |
Crimes against justice |
Crimes against the public |
|
Crimes against animals |
Crimes against the state |
Defenses to liability |
Other common-law areas |
Portals |
In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other government officials. Common law jurisdictions other than the United States tend to use the wider offense of perverting the course of justice.
Obstruction is a broad crime that may include acts such as perjury, making false statements to officials, witness tampering, jury tampering, destruction of evidence, and many others. Obstruction also applies to overt coercion of court or government officials via the means of threats or actual physical harm, and also applying to deliberate sedition against a court official to undermine the appearance of legitimate authority.[citation needed]