Mischief

Mischief
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Mischief or malicious mischief is the name for a criminal offenses that is 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".

United States
In United States criminal law, mischief is an offense against property that typically involves the intentional or reckless infliction of property damage, defacement, alteration, or destruction of property. Common forms include vandalism, and graffiti.[2] 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 right, intentionally or recklessly damages property of another person, intentionally participates in the destruction of property of another person, or participates in the reckless damage or destruction of property of another person.[3]