Why Lying Matters
From Martha to Madoff, Perjurers Harm America
Perjury, journalist James B. Stewart likes to remind people, used to be punishable by having one’s tongue cut out or hanging by one’s ears in the pillory.
These days, perjury in the United States is punishable by, at most, five years in prison. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the number of people willing to lie under oath has increased dramatically.
In fact, “We appear to be on the brink of being a society where perjury is the norm,” Stewart told journalist Henry Weinstein in an interview in front of a crowded auditorium at Los …
