Process Crimes

"They tortured me...with machines...to make me tell them things that...I didn't know to being with."
--Guinevere (King Arthur)

The legal witch hunt against Donald Trump has raised awareness of 'process crimes.' Process crimes are violations of the law committed by someone under government investigation that occur during the investigation. The most common process crime appears to be lying to investigators, whether that 'lie' was intentional or not.

Stated differently, it is the investigation (i.e., the government) itself that causes the crime. A person can be completely innocent of the alleged crimes that permit the investigation to be undertaken in the first place, and yet be convicted and sent to prison for process crimes.

It should be clear by now to anyone following the Trump situation that investigators are highly motivated to create process crimes. Process crimes can be employed as bargaining chips to lean on people to provide legal fodder that can be used against the ultimate target of the investigation.

Process crimes are legally sanctioned blackmail, pure and simple.