I- Definition:
“Tampering” is the intent to defraud, to remove, mutilate, destroy, conceal, or falsely alter any documentary heritage item and which can be considered as a deliberate illegal act or falsification of history and heritage.
II- Examples of “Heritage Tampering”:
1- A person is guilty of tampering with public records in the first degree when, knowing that he does not have the authority of anyone entitled to grant it, and with intent to defraud, he knowingly removes, mutilates, destroys, conceals, makes a false entry in or falsely alters any record or other written instrument filed with, deposited in, or otherwise constituting a record of a public office or public servant.
2- Individuals who make any amendments to artifact or archeological site, resulting in damage, transfer any objects or block from the site, start a fire, or write on any artifact.
3- If an authorized officer restricts access to a seized thing, a person must not tamper, or attempt to tamper, with the thing, or something restricting access to the thing, without an authorized officer’s approval.
4- The Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act forbids any construction or repair unless the prescribed process is followed.
5- Tampering with names in a city is “a deliberate falsification of history, and heritage”.
III- Case Studies on “Document Tampering”:
1- UNODC Case Law Database
2- Examination of date tampering on Abraham Lincoln’s pardon of Patrick Murphy, a document in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
3- The National Archives: Investigation into Forged Documents discovered amongst Authentic Public Records.
4- Document forgery analyzed through a historical archive
IV- Legislations for Heritage Tampering:
1- UNODC Database of Legislation
2- UNESCO International Conventions.
Legal and Practical Measures Against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property – UNESCO HANDBOOK
3- PROTECTING CULTURAL HERITAGE, United Nations, 22 September 2016.
4- Practical assistance tool to assist in the implementation of the International Guidelines for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Responses with Respect to Trafficking in Cultural Property and Other Related Offences. UNITED NATIONS- Vienna, 2016.
5- European Union.
6- Examples of National Legislations.
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- Sections 175.20 & 175.25, Penal Law tampering with public records
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- Forgery Act 1913 in England
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- The Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981
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- Federal Penal Code of Mexico
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- General Archives Law, Article 121, Mexico.