Mischief (or malicious mischief) is the name for a class of criminal offenses that are defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a legal differentiation between vandalism and mischief. The etymology of the word comes from Old French meschief, which means "misfortune", from meschever, "to end badly".
Canada
The country's Criminal Code makes
mischief a
hybrid offence, punishable by up to and including life imprisonment if the mischief causes actual danger to human life.
Public mischief is the term for the crime of wasting police time.
Scotland
Malicious mischief is an offence against the
common law of
Scotland. It does not require actual damage to property for the offence to be committed; financial damage consequential to the act is sufficient. It has now largely been replaced by vandalism, a statutory offense with the same definition. Vandalism is defined by section 52 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995.
United States
In United States criminal law, mischief is an offense against
property that typically involves the intentional or reckless infliction of
damage, defacement, , or of
property. Common forms include
vandalism and
graffiti.
Governed by state law, criminal mischief is committed when a perpetrator, having no right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he/she has such a right, intentionally or recklessly
damages property of another person, intentionally participates in the of property of another person, or participates in the reckless damage or destruction of property of another person.
See also
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