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A group of individuals can be convicted of conspiring or acting concertedly to commit vandalism. Frequently, these statutes employ the terms criminal mischief, malicious mischief, or malicious trespass as opposed to vandalism. Vandalism is a general term that may not actually appear in criminal statutes. In addition, a person who commits vandalism may be sued in a civil tort action for damages so that the damaged property can be repaired or replaced. The penalties upon conviction may be a fine, a jail sentence, an order to pay for repairs or replacement, or all three. The recklessness of the act imputes both intent and malice.īecause the destruction of public and private property poses a threat to society, modern statutes make vandalism a crime. Vandalism is a malicious act and may reflect personal ill will, although the perpetrators need not know their victim to commit vandalism. It includes behavior such as breaking windows, slashing tires, spray painting a wall with graffiti, and destroying a computer system through the use of a computer virus. The intentional destruction of property is popularly referred to as vandalism.
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The intentional and malicious destruction of or damage to the property of another.
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