Process crime

In United States criminal procedure terminology, a process crime is an offense against the judicial process.^[1] These crimes include failure to appear, false statements, obstruction of justice, contempt of court and perjury.

Process crimes are sometimes a basis for a "pretextual prosecution", in which prosecutors bring process crime charges against a defendant in order to punish them for another crime for which a conviction is more difficult to obtain.

Definition

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. The five "archetypal" process charges are failure to appear, false statements, obstruction of justice, contempt of court and perjury.^[3] Persons who do not cooperate with an arrest may be charged with such process crimes as resisting arrest, flight to elude arrest or battery on police officers.^[4]

In U.S. legal literature, prosecutions for process crimes are covered largely as a phenomenon of federal criminal law.^[5] But they are also frequently prosecuted in state courts.^[6]