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Obstruction of justice is an umbrella term covering a variety of specific crimes. [1] Black's Law Dictionary defines it as any "interference with the orderly administration of law and justice". [2] Obstruction has been categorized by various sources as a process crime, [3] a public-order crime, [4] [5] or a white-collar crime. [6]
[5] [25] The word cop is slang for police officer; the phrase is derived by analogy from contempt of court, which, unlike contempt of cop, is an offense in many jurisdictions (e.g., California Penal Code section 166, making contempt of court a misdemeanor). Similar to this is the phrase "disturbing the police", a play on "disturbing the peace".
Another quirk is that because the superior courts are now fully unified with all courts of inferior jurisdiction, the superior courts must hear relatively minor cases that previously would have been heard in such inferior courts, such as infractions, misdemeanors, "limited civil" actions (actions where the amount in controversy is below $35,000), and "small claims" actions.
Process crimes are the offenses that "interfere with the procedures and administration of justice". [2] They are prosecuted because they are considered to harm the public interest in the functioning and integrity of the judicial system. [2] There is a broad range of process crimes, covered in the U.S. by a variety of federal and state laws.
Burnham v. Superior Court of California, 495 U.S. 604 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court case addressing whether a state court may, consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, exercise personal jurisdiction over a non-resident of the state who is served with process while temporarily visiting the state.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a former police officer who is seeking to throw out an obstruction charge for joining the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, in a ruling that could benefit former ...
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Justice Department overstepped by charging hundreds of people who rioted at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, with obstruction in a decision that could ...
Some states still use the term "accessory after the fact"; others no longer use the term, but have comparable laws against hindering apprehension or prosecution, obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, harboring a felon, or the like. Such crimes usually require proving (1) an intent to hinder apprehension or prosecution and (2) actual ...