Governed by state law, criminal mischief is committed when a perpetrator, having no right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he/she has such right, intentionally or recklessly damages property of another person, intentionally participates in the destruction of property of another person, or participates in the reckless damage or destruction of property of another person. Common forms include vandalism, and graffiti. In United States criminal law, mischief is an offense against property that typically involves the intentional or reckless infliction of property damage, defacement, alteration, or destruction of property. It does not require actual damage to property for the offence to be committed financial damage consequential to the act is sufficient, unlike vandalism which requires actual damage to property to form the offence, the latter being defined by section 52 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995. Malicious mischief is an offence against the common law of Scotland.

The etymology of the word comes from Old French meschief, which means 'misfortune', from meschever, 'to end badly'. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a legal differentiation between vandalism and mischief. Mischief or malicious mischief is the name for a criminal offenses that is defined differently in different legal jurisdictions.

What does the word mischief mean