Why is nobody ever convicted of perjury

incentsitive

When somebody makes an allegation or claim over an accident which turns out to be false, why is the case just thrown out instead of the claimant being convicted and jailed for perjury?
It'd help end our false claim culture very quickly if people were convicted of lying to the judiciary.
Anybody know?

Donald Trump

Because they cross their fingers behind their back when telling the lies.


Simple and unbeatable tactic legally

how.gareth

I don’t think it’s cause they are found to have made up the whole story, just usually exaggerate their injuries which unfortunately can’t be prosecuted

PlaneSpeeking

Donald Trump wrote: »

Because they cross their fingers behind their back when telling the lies.


Simple and unbeatable tactic legally

Worked with the Stormy issue eh Don ??!!! ;)

Your Face

incentsitive wrote: »

When somebody makes an allegation or claim over an accident which turns out to be false, why is the case just thrown out instead of the claimant being convicted and jailed for perjury?
It'd help end our false claim culture very quickly if people were convicted of lying to the judiciary.
Anybody know?

Probably because it's never proven to be false.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/building-contractor-convicted-of-perjury-1.708745%3fmode=amp

Claw Hammer

incentsitive wrote: »

When somebody makes an allegation or claim over an accident which turns out to be false, why is the case just thrown out instead of the claimant being convicted and jailed for perjury?
It'd help end our false claim culture very quickly if people were convicted of lying to the judiciary.
Anybody know?

People are convicted of perjury from time to time. The main reason more prosecutions are not taken is because of the need to prove intention to lie beyond reasonable doubt. A judge can find on the balance of probabilities they don't believe someone but that doesn't mean that the person swore something which was false, knowing it was false.

seamus

^^

Not "never", just "very rare".

Mostly because when someone says something that's not true, that doesn't mean they're lying. So you then have to prove that the person at the time was actually lying and not just mistaken.

So it becomes a considerable amount of effort and paperwork for an offence that won't be taken very seriously.

blanch152

How do you prove perjury? Here is an example:

Gerry Adams told a story to Spotlight about his knowledge of his niece's sexual abuse.

He told a different story to the court case about the same issue.

Who knows which one was a lie? We know that one of them was a lie. If we looked carefully at it, we could probably conclude on the basis of probabilities which one was a lie, but if the State believed that the story he told the court was a lie, could they prove it beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore convict him of perjury? I very much doubt it.

Most perjury accusations would fall into the same category. Incomplete recollection, misremembering details etc. would all be defences. Genuine misunderstanding would be another. How do you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone was deliberately lying rather than just misremembering?

DEFTLEFTHAND

You can bring perverting the course of justice and wasting police time into the equation in a criminal case.

Still rarely seems to happen though.

False claims which could send innocent people to prison need to be severely dealt with.

Geuze

Even if you tell the truth, that you caused injury to yourself, you are still awarded, in this case 550k:

https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2018/1019/1005313-rebecca-kelly-court/

Mardy Bum

With the amount of lying in courts all over the country in a daily basis, we would need to turn schools into prisons to actually combat it.

incentsitive

So if I make an insurance claim, and tell the court my life is ruined, I can't walk, etc - and a private investigator sees me out running and playing golf and bungy jumping, is that not perjury? I have knowingly lied to the court. I definitely shouldn't walk out of there without any criminal conviction.

megaten

incentsitive wrote: »

So if I make an insurance claim, and tell the court my life is ruined, I can't walk, etc - and a private investigator sees me out running and playing golf and bungy jumping, is that not perjury? I have knowingly lied to the court. I definitely shouldn't walk out of there without any criminal conviction.

You should try and and come back to us on how you got on.

incentsitive

megaten wrote: »

You should try and and come back to us on how you got on.

As I join the dole queue.....