Perjury

Perjury is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under oath or affirmation in a court of law or in any of various sworn statements in writing. Perjury is a crime because the witness has sworn to tell the truth and, for the credibility of the court, witness testimony must be relied on as being truthful. Perjury is considered a serious offense as it can be used to usurp the power of the courts, resulting in miscarriages of justice. In the United States, for example, the general perjury statute under Federal law provides for a prison sentence of up to five years, and is found at 18 U.S.C. § 1621. See also 28 U.S.C. § 1746.

The rules for perjury also apply to witnesses who have affirmed they are telling the truth. Affirmation is used by a witness who is unable to swear to tell the truth. For example, in the United Kingdom a witness may swear on the Bible or other holy book. If a witness has no religious beliefs, or does not wish to swear on a holy book, the witness may make an affirmation he or she is telling the truth instead.

The rules for perjury also apply when a person has made a statement under penalty of perjury, even if the person has not been sworn or affirmed as a witness before an appropriate official. An example of this is the United States' income tax return, which, by law, must be signed as true and correct under penalty of perjury (see 26 U.S.C. § 6065). Federal tax law provides criminal penalties of up to three years in prison for violation of the tax return perjury statute. See 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1).

Statements of interpretation of fact are not perjury because people often make inaccurate statements unwittingly and not deliberately. Individuals may have honest but mistaken beliefs about certain facts or their recollection may be inaccurate. Like most other crimes in the common law system, to be convicted of perjury one must have had the mens rea to commit the act, and to have actually committed the actus reus.

In some countries such as France, suspects cannot be heard under oath and thus cannot commit perjury, regardless of what they say during their trial.

Famous people who have been convicted of perjury

Famous people who have been accused and convicted of perjury include:

• Jonathan Aitken, British politician, who was a member of John Major's cabinet, sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for perjury
• Jeffrey Archer, British novelist and politician, sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for perjury
• Alger Hiss, alleged Soviet spy who worked for the United States Department of State, sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for perjury and served 44 months.
• Dr. Cecil Jacobson, American fertility doctor.
• Lil' Kim, American Rapper.
• Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and assistant to President George W. Bush, convicted of two counts of perjury along with other offenses in connection with the Plame affair.
• Mark Fuhrman, LAPD Detective in the OJ Simpson case who pled no contest to a perjury charge for his testimony in Simpson's murder trial.

Famous people accused of perjury

Famous people who have been accused of perjury include:

• Barry Bonds is currently under investigation by a federal grand jury for allegedly perjuring himself in testimony before a grand jury in 2003 as part of the BALCO steroid scandal, in which he denied using any performance-enhancing drugs.
• Former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford - was indicted by Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal for alleged swearing at fellow Houston Police officers; perjury charge was dismissed due to the lack of evidence and/or fabricated charges.
• Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was accused of perjury and as a result was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998. The Senate rejected the perjury with 55 not-guilty votes and 45 guilty votes, as they deemed the matter immaterial to the case. No criminal charges were ever brought, though Clinton was later fined for contempt of court and, after thorough negotiations, agreed to be temporarily disbarred to avoid the possibility of a lengthy criminal trial.
• Rafael Palmeiro faced perjury charges (but was never charged) for possible false testimony in front of Congress regarding steroid use in professional baseball
• Several witnesses, including five members of the Scottish Parliament at the time, in the Sheridan v News International defamation case. This is currently under police investigation.

Perjury in popular culture

• In crime dramas, whether in movies, novels, stories or on television, characters portraying suspects or witnesses are sometimes told that lying during interrogation (typically at a police station) incurs a threat of perjury charges. In most cases, the character is not under oath at this point and thus not at risk of perjury. This either represents intimidation by the questioner (who assumes the subject does not know the distinction) or ignorance on the part of the writer.
• In Capcom's Ace Attorney series, perjury is mentioned, most notably by the protagonist, Phoenix Wright, but none of the witnesses are charged of it even though they have lied under oath.