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Offenses against public administration
Summary of the topic
Chapters 37 and 38 of the Penal Code protect the machinery of justice: the truth of what is said to officers and courts, the identification of the people officers deal with, and the process of arrest, custody and prosecution. Chapter 37 is about false statements. Section 37.02 makes perjury a Class A misdemeanor, committed by a false statement under oath, or a false unsworn declaration, made with intent to deceive. Section 37.03 makes it aggravated perjury, a third degree felony, when the statement is made in connection with an official proceeding and is material. Section 37.08 makes it a Class B misdemeanor to make a knowingly false statement that is material to a criminal investigation to a peace officer who is conducting it.
Chapter 38 is about obstruction, and each section turns on a precise trigger. Under section 38.02, refusing to give a name, address or date of birth to a peace officer who has lawfully arrested the person is a Class C misdemeanor, and giving false information to an officer who has lawfully arrested or detained the person is a Class B misdemeanor. A person who is merely detained and refuses to give a name commits no offense under the arrest limb. Section 38.03 makes resisting arrest, search or transportation by force against a peace officer a Class A misdemeanor, and it is no defense that the arrest or search was unlawful. Section 38.04 makes it an offense to flee from a peace officer who is lawfully attempting to arrest or detain the person. It is a Class A misdemeanor at the base level, and the grade rises to a felony when a vehicle is used or when someone is seriously injured or killed.
Section 38.05 covers hindering apprehension or prosecution by harboring, concealing, aiding or warning another person, and section 38.06 covers escape from custody, which is graded by the circumstances of the person and any injury caused.
Two offenses from neighboring chapters complete the topic. Section 36.02 makes bribery a second degree felony, covering offering or accepting a benefit as consideration for a public servant's exercise of discretion. Section 39.02 covers abuse of official capacity, either by violating a law relating to the office or by misusing government property, with misuse graded by value.
Provisions this topic covers
- Tex. Penal Code ch. 37
- Tex. Penal Code ch. 38
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