Criminal mischief in Louisiana is a misdemeanor defined by Revised Statutes 14:59, covering nine specific intentional acts that disrupt property or public safety without necessarily destroying anything. A conviction carries up to a $500 fine, up to six months in parish jail, or both. There is no felony version of this charge. If you’re looking at property destruction with a dollar figure attached, you are probably dealing with a different statute, criminal damage to property, which can reach ten years in prison.
What Counts as Criminal Mischief
The statute lists nine kinds of conduct, and every one of them requires intent. Accidentally setting off an alarm or bumping into something does not qualify.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14:59 – Criminal Mischief
- Tampering with another person’s property without consent, with the goal of interfering with their use of it.
- Triggering any false alarm or notice that would reasonably cause an emergency response.
- Driving nails, tacks, or metal longer than one and a half inches into a tree on someone else’s property without consent.
- Felling, topping, or pruning trees or shrubs in a state highway right-of-way without written approval from the Department of Transportation and Development. Utility workers handling emergencies are exempt.
- Giving a sheriff, deputy, or any law enforcement officer a false report about a crime or attempted crime.
- Throwing stones or any projectile in streets, alleys, highways, public squares, or other open spaces, or throwing objects at a train or railway car.
- Taking temporary possession of part of a business, or staying after the person in charge has told you to leave.
- Making threatening communications that disrupt a public water utility, cause its employees to fear for their safety, force a building evacuation, or interrupt water service.
- Discharging a firearm at any train, locomotive, or railway car.
The common thread is intentional conduct that interferes with property or public safety. Destruction by fire or explosion is not covered here; that falls under the separate arson statutes.
Penalties
Criminal mischief has a single penalty tier no matter which of the nine acts you’re charged with: a fine of up to $500, imprisonment for up to six months in parish jail, or both.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14:59 – Criminal Mischief Every prosecution under R.S. 14:59 is a misdemeanor.
The court may also order restitution whenever the victim suffered an actual financial loss, and Louisiana law requires judges to do so in those circumstances. Payments run through a court-designated intermediary rather than directly to the victim. If you cannot pay in full at sentencing, the court can set up a periodic payment plan.
How This Differs From Criminal Damage to Property
This is where most people get confused. “Criminal mischief” sounds like it should cover all vandalism, but Louisiana treats destruction as a separate offense under R.S. 14:56, simple criminal damage to property, and the penalties scale with the dollar amount of harm:
- Damage under $1,000: up to a $1,000 fine, up to six months in jail, or both.
- Damage from $1,000 to under $50,000: up to a $1,000 fine, imprisonment with or without hard labor for up to two years, or both.
- Damage of $50,000 or more: up to a $10,000 fine, imprisonment with or without hard labor for one to ten years, or both.
When one person causes damage to multiple properties through a series of connected acts, the court adds up the total to decide which tier applies.2Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 RS 14:56 – Simple Criminal Damage to Property Spray-painting five storefronts in one night is a single offense priced on the combined repair cost, not five misdemeanors.
The practical gap matters. Tampering with a mailbox to annoy the owner is criminal mischief. Smashing that same mailbox and causing $1,500 in surrounding damage is a felony carrying up to two years at hard labor. The statute also expressly reaches tenants who intentionally damage a rental they live in, closing an older argument that renters had a right to be on the property.2Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 RS 14:56 – Simple Criminal Damage to Property
Defenses That Can Work
Because every criminal mischief charge requires intent, the strongest defense is usually that you did not mean to do what you’re accused of. Setting off an alarm by accident is not pulling one. Knocking something over is not tampering. The prosecution has to prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt, and that bar is hard to clear on circumstantial evidence.
Consent is another frequent defense. Several of the listed offenses require acting without the owner’s consent, so permission, or a reasonable belief that you had it, defeats the charge.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14:59 – Criminal Mischief A text message saying “go ahead and trim that branch” can be enough, even if the owner later regrets saying it.
Mistaken identity matters for acts like throwing objects or tampering, where the accused was often not caught in the act. Surveillance footage, alibi witnesses, and cell phone location data can all show the wrong person was charged. This defense is strongest when the case rests on a single witness identification without physical evidence to back it up.
For the “refusing to leave a business” variant, the fight often turns on whether the person in charge actually told you to leave. A vague suggestion is not a clear instruction, and leaving promptly once told usually ends the matter.
Civil Lawsuits on Top of the Criminal Case
A criminal conviction does not stop the victim from suing you separately. Louisiana Civil Code Article 2315 says that anyone whose fault causes damage to another is obligated to repair it, which opens the door to a civil suit for repair costs, loss of use, and related expenses on top of whatever the criminal court orders.3Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2315 – Liability for Acts Causing Damages
Court-ordered restitution and a civil judgment are separate obligations. Paying restitution does not shield you from a civil suit, though the victim cannot collect twice for the same loss. Victims often pursue civil claims when criminal restitution does not cover everything, because repair costs, lost business revenue, and temporary replacements can run well past what a criminal court orders.
Getting the Conviction Off Your Record
A criminal mischief conviction stays on your record unless you expunge it, and even a misdemeanor property offense can cause problems. Employers running background checks may screen out candidates with property-related convictions, and landlords tend to read them as a tenant-damage warning. For younger people, admissions and scholarship decisions can turn on it.
Louisiana offers two main paths for expunging a misdemeanor. If the court originally set aside your conviction and dismissed the prosecution under the state’s deferred sentencing provisions, you can file a motion to expunge. Otherwise, you must wait at least five years after completing your sentence, probation, or parole, with no felony convictions during that period and no pending felony charges. The motion must include a certification from the district attorney confirming your clean record.4Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 977 – Motion to Expunge Record of Arrest and Conviction of a Misdemeanor Offense
Not every misdemeanor qualifies. Sex offenses, domestic abuse battery, and stalking are excluded from this provision.4Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 977 – Motion to Expunge Record of Arrest and Conviction of a Misdemeanor Offense Criminal mischief is not on that list, so most people convicted under R.S. 14:59 will eventually qualify if they stay out of further trouble.