A1 Grossman, age 15, of Longview, Wash., for his question:
JUST WHAT IS CONTEMPT OF COURT?
In law, contempt of court is disobedience of any court or legislative body, or the disrespectful or disorderly conduct fn the presence of any court our legislative body. Contempt of court is usually divided into criminal or civil contempt.
Criminal contempt is conduct committed in the presence of the court. It may consist of disorderly behavior, disrespect or disobedience of a judge's orders. Examples of criminal contempt committed during a trial are an attorney's persistence in pursuing a line of questioning that the judge has ruled improper and the refusal of a witness to answer a question despite the judge's direction.
Criminal contempt may also include disorderly acts occuring sufficiently near the courtroom, such as in the corridors or on the courthouse steps, to interfere with court proceedings.
Criminal contempt may be summarily punished by the court through the imposition of a fine or imprisonment or both. To prevent abuse of this power, however, the laws of some jurisdictions permit appeals from findings of criminal contempt.
Civil contempt of court is disobedience of a court order designed to grant relief to a party to a lawsuit. Such orders, often called decrees, stem from the equitable powers of courts.
Common examples of equitable decrees are the injunction and the order for the payment of alimony. Civil contempt is punished by fine or imprisonment as a result of proceedings brought by the aggrieved party: for example, by a person who has not received overdue alimony payments.
Both criminal and civil contempt of court may be purged in many cases by obeying the order of the court or by apologizing for the misconduct.
The person in contempt is often held in jail until the contempt is purged.
Decisions by the United States Supreme Court have limited the power of the courts by requiring a jury trial in certain cases of criminal contempt.
The distinction between civil and criminal contempt commonly is not made in regard to legislative bodies. Contempt of the legislature usually signifies either a person's refusal to obey a subpoena ordering him or her to attend and give testimony at a hearing conducted by a legislature, or the refusal, without lawful excuse, to answer a proper question at such a hearing.
When contempt supposedly has occured, the legislative house may vote a contempt citation and the public prosecutor may then bring the alleged offender before a criminal court for trial.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as lawful a refusal to answer a question of a congressional committee on the grounds that the witness fears the answer would be self incriminatory.