Louisiana Criminal Code

This act sets out a jurisdiction's criminal code, opening with general provisions — definitions, the code's purposes, rules of construction, when an act or omission constitutes a crime, and how the code applies to conduct occurring before and after its enactment — while preserving pending proceedings and separate civil liabilities. Its substantive offenses center on the integrity of government and the administration of justice: perjury and unsworn falsification to authorities, impersonating public servants and peace officers, tampering with governmental records, physical evidence, witnesses, and jurors, bribing witnesses and jurors, misuse of the state seal and official identification cards, simulated and sham legal process, interference with judicial proceedings, and terrorist threats. It grades several of these offenses by degree and attaches related evidentiary and procedural rules, including a corroboration requirement for perjury convictions, a retraction bar, and limits on prosecutions built on inconsistent or self-exculpatory statements.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.