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Perverting the course of justice is a criminal offence in England and Wales. The offence is committed when a person prevents justice from being served on him/herself or on another party. It is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Statutory versions of the offence exist in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland and New Zealand.
Doing an act tending and intending to pervert the course of public justice[1] is an offence under the common law of England and Wales.
Perverting the course of justice can be any of three acts:
Also criminal are:
This offence, and the subject matter of the related forms of criminal conspiracy, has been referred to as:
This proliferation of alternative names is "somewhat confusing".[3]
This offence is also sometimes referred to as "attempting to pervert the course of justice". This is potentially misleading. An attempt to pervert the course of justice is a substantive common law offence and not an inchoate offence. It is not a form of the offence of attempt and it would be erroneous to charge it as being contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981.[4]
This offence is triable only on indictment.[5]
In Canada, the equivalent offence is referred to as "obstructing justice." It is set out s 139 of the Criminal Code:
139. (1) Every one who wilfully attempts in any manner to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice in a judicial proceeding, (a) by indemnifying or agreeing to indemnify a surety, in any way and either in whole or in part, or (b) where he is a surety, by accepting or agreeing to accept a fee or any form of indemnity whether in whole or in part from or in respect of a person who is released or is to be released from custody, is guilty of (c) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or (d) an offence punishable on summary conviction. (2) Every one who wilfully attempts in any manner other than a manner described in subsection (1) to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years. (3) Without restricting the generality of subsection (2), every one shall be deemed wilfully to attempt to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice who in a judicial proceeding, existing or proposed, (a) dissuades or attempts to dissuade a person by threats, bribes or other corrupt means from giving evidence; (b) influences or attempts to influence by threats, bribes or other corrupt means a person in his conduct as a juror; or (c) accepts or obtains, agrees to accept or attempts to obtain a bribe or other corrupt consideration to abstain from giving evidence, or to do or to refrain from doing anything as a juror.[6]
In New South Wales, the equivalent offence is set out in section 319 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).[7] The maximum penalty is 14 years' imprisonment.
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