- Written By: Renee Booker
- Edited By: E. E. Hubbard
- Last Modified Date: 20 April 2012
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2003-2012 Conjecture Corporation
The act of lying under oath is called perjury in most jurisdictions. Other words that are used to refer to lying under oath include forswearing and lying on oath. In legal terms, lying under oath requires an intentional act of lying after a person has taken an oath or affirmation to tell the truth. The potential penalty for lying under oath generally includes a possible term of imprisonment.
Perjury is a crime in many jurisdictions. A person can commit perjury by lying under oath either verbally or in writing. Although the possible punishment for the crime of perjury will vary by jurisdictions, under the laws of many countries, perjury is a serious crime and therefore carries a possible prison sentence if convicted. In reality, however, prosecutions for perjury are somewhat rare in most countries.
A person may commit perjury by testifying under oath and making a false statement during that testimony. Under the rules of procedure in most legal systems, a witness must be "sworn in" prior to beginning his or her testimony. Swearing in includes the witnesses agreeing, under the penalties of perjury, to tell the complete truth when he or she testifies.
A mistake of fact or an unintentional misrepresentation of fact is not considered to be perjury. In order for a witness to commit perjury during his or her testimony in court, he or she must intentionally make a false statement of fact. In addition, in many jurisdictions, telling a lie about something immaterial to the matter before the court is not considered perjury. The statement upon which a charge of perjury is based must be something that was material to the court's decision in the matter before the court.
A person may also be guilty of lying under oath in writing. Many legal documents include a statement attesting to the fact that the person executing the document swears, under the penalties of perjury, that the information contained in the document is true and accurate. Once a person signs the document, he or she is subject to a charge of perjury if a material fact was misrepresented or a false statement was made in the document.
Perjury, or lying under oath, is often charged as a felony. In the United States, perjury at the federal level and, in most state courts, is a felony punishable by a year or more in prison. As another example, in the United Kingdom, perjury is punishable by up to seven years in prison.
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anon262743
Post 10 |
I am involved in a custody case at the moment regarding my son. His mother and her family have all so far lied in sworn documentation and I have video evidence to prove it, but the court is allowing them to just continuously get away with the lies and every one of them does have a bearing on the case because they are resulting in me not seeing my son as often as I should. It also means my son is in a situation where there is an aggressive dog and people are looking after him who shouldn't be. Their perjury has made a major difference in the case and while I do not want to stop my son seeing that side of the family, I do hope the court will stop messing about, realise they are lying under oath and in sworn documents and sentence them to jail. Every one of them really does deserve it. The thing that troubles me is that it is my son who misses out because of their lies. |
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helene55
Post 8 |
@SaraQ- there were many problems with the Casey Anthony trial. In addition to the possibility of perjury in the fact you mentioned, there were also possiblities of withheld evidence- there were claims that dozens of searches were made on chloroform, when one of the software analyst said that he only found evidence of one search. Who knows which is true, who ended up committing perjury and who did not? It is hard to say after the fact, I think, and it seems like the lying under oath punishment is especially hard to pin down when you also have things like "lost" evidence and holes in prosecution or defense arguments as well. Considering all of this, it's amazing that any trials are considered to be done fairly at all. |
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Catapult
Post 7 |
@burcinc- I agree that politicians ought to tell the truth. Everyone ought to tell the truth. What I think doesn't work about using Clinton as an example is that the charges against him were honestly not very important. I'm not saying it's okay to lie about sexual harrassment, what I'm saying is that they had very little to do with his job as president. Had the charges against him been more relevant, I think it would be a good example, though I do agree with your overall point. |
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Tomislav
Post 6 |
@speechie - Speaking of the Marion Jones perjury case, I find that, of course, she should have a stiff penalty for lying about something that affected something that was as big as the Olympics.
But... doesn't anyone else feel that there should be less serious punishment or punishments that include tens of thousands of hours of community service for people who commit perjury in non-violent cases?
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Speechie
Post 5 |
While I'm sure there are many cases where people do lie under oath, and I do think lying under oath should have consequences, serious ones in fact (considering much of our court system depends on telling the truth under oath); there are many cases where people do go to prison for perjury.
For example, does anyone remember the Marion Jones controversy? She lied under oath about taking performance enhancing drugs and she received serious jail time. There are many hometown cases where people are sent to jail for perjury.
What I don't understand is why some people are prosecuted and others aren't? Especially in situations where there is substantial evidence that perjury may have occurred.
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Saraq90
Post 4 |
I think our justice system may be a bit flawed when it comes to this matter of perjury. During the infamous Casey Anthony trial, it was discussed that Casey Anthony's mother lied under oath, and there seemed to be enough evidence to look into this lie she may have made. However, the news reports say and I saw an interview with the prosecution who said Casey Anthony's mother will not be tried in court. My concern is if we don't prosecute lying under oath, it doesn't matter what the lying under oath penalty is! I feel this gives people caught in a difficult position the opportunity to think it may be better to take the gamble and lie under oath rather than to tell the truth. Just as @burcinc described that politician's are probably more likely to lie under oath because they saw another politician get away with it. |
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ysmina
Post 3 |
@burcinc-- I agree that taking oath in court should have more weight but I think that many people actually get away with lying under oath, not just politicians.
I have a friend who was in a custody case for her daughter. Her ex-husband kept lying under oath but she was not able to prove it in court and he got custody. I think that our law system puts a lot of trust in people. It expects people who take an oath to basically listen to their conscience and be honest. But I don't believe that everyone has that conscience and that's where penalty comes in.
If the penalty of lying under oath is serious, only then will it deter people from lying. If people can lie and get away with it or if they get caught lying and are not given a heavy enough penalty, they will just keep doing it. |
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turkay1
Post 2 |
I work for a company that does translations for businesses. One of the things that is often done if a translation is going to be used to file a case or as evidence for any other legal process is to have the translator declare under penalty of perjury that the translation is correct.
As far as I know, intentionally mistranslating a document and then declaring under penalty of perjury that it is correct has the same penalty as lying under oath.I think this was the case with the Martha Stewart case as well.
So technically, anytime you sign or agree to something that says "declare under penalty of perjury" you are taking an oath that it is true. It will be treated the same as perjury if it is untrue. |
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burcinc
Post 1 |
I guess there is a little bit of a double standard for politicians when it comes to lying under oath. Bill Clinton committed perjury and he was impeached for it. That is certainly a penalty but I'm personally not sure if it was enough.
I think perjury is a very serious crime and it makes sense for there to be monetary punishments and prison sentences for it. Especially if the person who is testifying holds a public office. How can we have leaders and representatives who are not honest and can take the risk of lying under oath in court? I think that's unacceptable. The Clinton case could have been a better example for future politicians if the penalty had been a little more serious. |
