Government, Legal, Politics, Society, United States

What Is Obstruction of Justice?

UNITED STATES

Ever since President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey last week the term “obstruction of justice” has been swirling inside Washington D.C. and across cable television. The rhetoric has somewhat intensified after the New York Times cited a memo from Mr Comey claiming that the president had asked him to shut down an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn following his resignation.

Using social media networking site Twitter, Senator Chris Murphy has asked about the exact definition of “obstruction of justice” and highlights the frenzy between Democrats and Republicans over its meaning. Mr Murphy tweeted with a link to the Times report.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse tweeted: “Yesterday, secrets to the Russians. Today, obstruction of justice? When does this end?”

But what exactly is Obstruction of Justice and how does it relate to the headlines that have been coming out of the Beltway?

Obstruction of Justice is essentially someone who intentionally intervenes or tampers with an ongoing investigation.

The Times wrote that the memo is “the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.”

“You can’t get in the way or do anything to impede an investigation that has already been launched and if you do you may suffer criminal penalties,” said William C. Banks, a law professor and Director of the Institute for National Security and Counter-Terrorism at Syracuse University.

The federal code has 21 statutes outlining the different methods of obstruction of justice, including the use of murder or physical force to disrupt a testimony influencing a juror, and falsifying records. But one of the statutes, 18 U.S. Code § 1512 also includes a general provision, explaining that someone who “otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”

But the key to proving obstruction of justice, explains Robert Weisberg, a law professor at Stanford, is that the intervention has to be propelled by corrupt motives.

“If it’s a threat, that makes it a crime. If it’s not a threat – but a request – it could still be a crime if the threat is motivated by a corrupt purpose,” Weisberg said.

The punishment varies, and usually depends on what the person was convicted for, but the maximum is 20 years of imprisonment if fined under the federal statute of 18 U.S. Code § 1512. In 1974, articles of impeachment drafted against Richard Nixon accused him of obstructing justice after he refused to hand over his tape recordings to the FBI. Nixon resigned, but faced no charges because Gerald Ford pardoned him.

In 2007, then Vice President Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, was convicted of Obstruction of Justice – in addition to lying to a grand jury and FBI agents – regarding the federal investigation into the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame and received a 30-month prison sentence before President George W. Bush pardoned him that June.

Arts, Psychology, Science

Talking to Self is linked to Brain’s Intelligence

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE

This internal dialogue, sometimes referred to as personal commentary, frames our reactions to life and its circumstances. One of the ways to recognise, promote, and sustain optimism, hope, and joy is to intentionally fill our thoughts with positive self-talk.

We all talk to ourselves, whether it’s aloud or silent inner talk. Although thinking out loud makes us look insane, science suggests it’s actually a sign of intelligence, not mental illness. Psychologists at Bangor University in the UK have found external monologues boost brain power to improve our focus and achieve goals.

Scientific researchers at Bangor University say our inner talk serves to control ourselves by helping us organise our thoughts, plan actions, consolidate memory, and modulate emotions. This inner talk evolves itself to talking out loud to further reinforce our approach to achieving set goals.

One of the scientists commented: ‘Talking out loud can be an extension of this silent inner talk, caused when a certain motor command is triggered involuntarily.’

For example, as children, we learn by talking to ourselves because this is part of our developmental immaturity. Psychologist Jean Piaget dubbed this “egocentric speech”, and realised toddlers begin to control their actions as soon as they start developing language. A 2008 study conducted by George Mason University found 5-year-olds do better on motor tasks when they talk to themselves out loud, whether it’s spontaneously or when told to do so by an adult, compared to when they are silent. The researchers noted as children begin talking to themselves, their communication skills with the outside world improve.

In the study, published in Acta Psychologica, Mari-Beffa and Alexander Kirkhan conducted an experiment where they gave a total of 28 participants a set of written instructions, and asked them to read them either silently or out loud. The researchers observed talking out loud actually improved the participants’ control over a task compared to what is achieved by inner speech. They believe much of this benefit comes from simply hearing oneself.

An auditory command seems to better control behaviour than written ones. Even if we talk to ourselves during challenging tasks, our performance tends to improve when we do it out loud, rather than silently.

“The stereotype of the mad scientist talking to themselves, lost in their own inner world, might reflect the reality of a genius who uses all the means at their disposal to increase their brain power,” wrote Mari-Beffa.

Similarly, previous research has shown talking to ourselves makes our brain work more efficiently. In a 2011 study, researchers gave 20 people the name of an object, (i.e., a loaf of bread or an apple), to find in the supermarket both in silence and then aloud as they looked for it in the store. The participants found the object with more ease when they spoke to themselves while searching, because thinking out loud helped spark memory. In other words, speaking facilitated search, meaning there was a strong association between the name and the visual target.

These studies suggest talking to ourselves is not only a way to control our behaviour, but it’s also something that we prefer to do by default. It helps us organise our thoughts. Psychologist Linda Sapadin believes talking to ourselves helps us validate important, difficult decisions. It clarifies our thoughts to determine what’s important and solidify any decisions we’re contemplating. This is often the way we’re advised to “talk it out” when we are faced with a problem.

This is why we often see sports elites like tennis player Serena Williams talking to herself during competitions to stay focused and achieve her goals. Perhaps adapting an athlete’s state of mind by talking out loud can act as our own motivational pep talk to improve our focus. Initially, talking to ourselves may seem like madness, but science argues it’s the habit of a genius.