What Is Obstruction of Justice? Punishment, Types And Meaning – Forbes Advisor – Technologist

According to a report prepared by the Congressional Research Service, “obstruction of justice is the impediment of government activities” or “the frustration of governmental purposes by violence, corruption, destruction of evidence, or deceit.”

In most cases, this crime involves one of the following:

• Interfering with the ability of law enforcement officials to carry out arrests or investigate criminal activity
• Interfering with some aspect of the judicial system, such as interfering with a jury or witness or otherwise taking any steps to prevent a fair trial

Legal Definition

Obstructing justice is illegal on federal and state levels, with individual states establishing their own legal definitions of offenses and penalties.

In most cases, there is not a general statute that simply prohibits obstruction of justice. Instead, there are laws prohibiting specific behaviors that interfere with the operation of law enforcement, government officials or legal proceedings.

For example, under Pennsylvania law, there are regulations prohibiting actions including but not limited to:

• Obstructing administration of law or other governmental function
• Obstructing the administration of justice by picketing
• Unlawfully listening to jury deliberations
• Unlawfully recording court proceedings
• Resisting arrest
• Disarming officers

The laws prohibit a series of separate offenses because simply prohibiting “obstruction” is too vague to be enforceable. The law must clearly define what kinds of behaviors are considered criminal. This is also why there’s no blanket law prohibiting “violence,” but rather many separate statutes defining different violent offenses and imposing penalties for them.

Meaning of Obstruction of Justice

While the term obstruction of justice is a broad term that relates to a group of offenses, ultimately, they all have some common traits. Understanding those common traits makes the meaning of this offense clear.

As Black’s Law Dictionary explains, obstruction of justice is any “interference with the orderly administration of law and justice.”