Terroristic threat

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A terroristic threat is a threat to commit a crime of violence or a threat to cause bodily injury to another person and terrorization as the result of the proscribed conduct. [1] Several U.S. states have enacted statutes which impose criminal liability for "terroristic threatening" or "making a terroristic threat." [2]

Contents

Overview

Generally, a terroristic threat "is sufficiently specific where it threatens death or great bodily injury, and a threat is not insufficient simply because it does not communicate a time or precise manner of execution. Thus, a criminal statute prohibiting terroristic threatening serves to criminalize future, as well as present, death threats." [3]

Courts have held that "a threat need not take any particular form or be expressed in any particular words, and may be made by innuendo or suggestion, and that the words uttered will not be considered in a vacuum but rather in light of all the circumstances." [4] A number of courts have upheld convictions under a state criminal terroristic threat statute on the basis of a single or solitary threat, [5] a conditional threat, [6] or a threat that some third person will take action. [7] In several states, courts have held that a "threatener's present inability to carry out his or her threats does not in itself remove the threats from the purview of terroristic threat or terroristic threatening statutes." [8] However, "the courts recognized that one does not violate a terroristic threat or terroristic threatening statute by making idle talk or jests which do not have a reasonable tendency to create apprehension that the speaker will act according to the threat." [9]

The threat need not be communicated in person, but may be made by any means; courts have in a number of cases held that a terroristic threat statute may be violated by a threat made by telephone, [10] by letter [11] by communication with a third party, [12] or by "a nonverbal, symbolic threat which in other respects satisfies the criminal elements specified in the terroristic threat statute" (such as the burning of a cross on the target's driveway). [13]

The required mens rea element of the offense is generally "that the accused have made the threat with the intent or purpose of causing fear in the victim or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such fear." [14] At least one court has specified that the "proof of a terroristic threat is measured by an objective standard." [15]

American Law Reports indicates that "the cases are in disagreement over the availability of voluntary intoxication as a defense in a terroristic threat or terroristic threatening prosecution, with intoxication being a defense where a specific criminal intent is an essential element of the offense, but not a defense where the offense is established without specific criminal intent." [16]

Terroristic-threat statutes have generally been upheld by the courts against constitutional challenges raising claims that such laws violate the Free Speech Clause, [17] are impermissibly vague, [18] or overlap with a criminal assault statute. [19]

Example statutes

Model Penal Code

In the Model Penal Code, terroristic threats are defined as assault related crimes. [20] Under the MPC "a person is guilty of a felony of the third degree if he threatens to commit any crime of violence with purpose to terrorize another or to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation, or otherwise to cause serious public inconvenience, or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience." [21]

California

"Under California law, the elements of the completed crime of making threats with intent to terrorize are: (1) willfully threatening to commit a crime that will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, (2) specific intent that the statement be taken as a threat, (3) the threat was on its face and under the circumstances so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, (4) the threat caused the victim to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family's safety, and (5) the victim's fear was reasonable under the circumstances." [22]

Texas

In Texas, terroristic threats are prohibited under Chapter 22 of the Texas Penal Code: [23] [24]

Sec. 22.07. TERRORISTIC THREAT. (a) A person commits an offense if he threatens to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property with intent to:

(1) cause a reaction of any type to his threat by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies;
(2) place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury;
(3) prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, place of employment or occupation, aircraft, automobile, or other form of conveyance, or other public place;
(4) cause impairment or interruption of public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service;
(5) place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury; or
(6) influence the conduct or activities of a branch or agency of the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state.

United States

18 U.S.C.   § 2332b(c)(1)(g) makes it a class C felony, punishable by 3 years imprisonment, for someone to willfully threaten to commit a crime that will result in death or great bodily harm; the threat is made with the specific intent that it be taken as a threat; the threat is so unequivocal, unconditional, and specific as to convey a gravity of purpose and immediate prospect of execution; the threat actually causes fear in the victim; and the fear is reasonable. [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both. Additionally, assault is a criminal act in which a person intentionally causes fear of physical harm or offensive contact to another person. Assault can be committed with or without a weapon and can range from physical violence to threats of violence. Assault is frequently referred to as an attempt to commit battery, which is the deliberate use of physical force against another person. The deliberate inflicting of fear, apprehension, or terror is another definition of assault that can be found in several legal systems. Depending on the severity of the offense, assault may result in a fine, imprisonment, or even death.

In criminal law, mens rea is the mental state of a defendant who is accused of committing a crime. In common law jurisdictions, most crimes require proof both of mens rea and actus reus before the defendant can be found guilty.

Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intimidation</span> Intentional behaviour meant to cause a person humiliation, embarrassment, and discomfort

Intimidation is a behaviour and legal wrong which usually involves deterring or coercing an individual by threat of violence. It is in various jurisdictions a crime and a civil wrong (tort). Intimidation is similar to menacing, coercion, terrorizing and assault in the traditional sense.

Disorderly conduct is a crime in most jurisdictions, such as the United States and China. Typically, "disorderly conduct" is a term used to refer to any behavior that is considered unacceptable in a formal, civilized or controlled environment. Many types of unruly conduct may fit the definition of disorderly conduct, as such statutes are often used as "catch-all" crimes. Police may use a disorderly conduct charge to keep the peace when people are behaving in a disruptive manner, but otherwise present no danger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Penal Code</span> Defines most criminal law, criminal procedure, and penal institutions in California

The Penal Code of California forms the basis for the application of most criminal law, criminal procedure, penal institutions, and the execution of sentences, among other things, in the American state of California. It was originally enacted in 1872 as one of the original four California Codes, and has been substantially amended and revised since then.

Culpable homicide is a categorisation of certain offences in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the homicide either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence. Unusually for those legal systems which have originated or been influenced during rule by the United Kingdom, the name of the offence associates with Scots law rather than English law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offences Against the Person Act 1861</span> UK criminal statute

The Offences against the Person Act 1861 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to offences against the person from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act. For the most part these provisions were, according to the draftsman of the Act, incorporated with little or no variation in their phraseology. It is one of a group of Acts sometimes referred to as the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861. It was passed with the object of simplifying the law. It is essentially a revised version of an earlier consolidation act, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828, incorporating subsequent statutes.

In criminal law, the term offence against the person or crime against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person.

Resisting arrest, or simply resisting, is an illegal act of a suspected criminal either fleeing, threatening, assaulting, or providing a fake ID to a police officer during arrest.

Rape is a type of sexual assault initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, under threat or manipulation, by impersonation, or with a person who is incapable of giving valid consent.

Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death threat</span> Threat to kill

A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a death threat could be a form of coercion. For example, a death threat could be used to dissuade a public figure from pursuing a criminal investigation or an advocacy campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Threat</span> Indication of intent of harm

A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation for coercion is considered a threat.

Holloway v. United States, 526 U.S. 1 (1999), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the court addressed the issue of whether the federal carjacking law applies to crimes committed with the "conditional intent" of harming drivers who refuse a carjacker's demands.

Terms such as menacing, brandishment or brandishing refer to criminal offenses in many U.S. states which are generally defined as displaying a weapon with the intent of placing another person in fear of imminent physical injury or death.

The term “brandish” means, with respect to a firearm, to display all or part of the firearm, or otherwise make the presence of the firearm known to another person, in order to intimidate that person, regardless of whether the firearm is directly visible to that person.
— 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(4).

In the United States, the law for murder varies by jurisdiction. In many US jurisdictions there is a hierarchy of acts, known collectively as homicide, of which first-degree murder and felony murder are the most serious, followed by second-degree murder and, in a few states, third-degree murder, which in other states is divided into voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter such as reckless homicide and negligent homicide, which are the least serious, and ending finally in justifiable homicide, which is not a crime. However, because there are at least 52 relevant jurisdictions, each with its own criminal code, this is a considerable simplification.

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The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 is a New York criminal law passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, that created a new section of the New York Penal Code for terrorism-related crimes, Article 490. The bill was introduced in a special session of the New York State Legislature on September 17, 2001. It was passed by overwhelming majorities of both houses and signed into law by Governor George Pataki the same day.

Rape laws vary across the United States jurisdictions. However, rape is federally defined for statistical purposes as:

Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.

References

  1. ↑ Sonja Larsen, 86 C.J.S. Threats § 24 (database last updated Dec. 2015) (footnotes omitted).
  2. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949 (originally published in 1986, subsequently updated).
  3. ↑ Larsen, 86 C.J.S. Threats § 24 (database last updated Dec. 2015) (footnotes omitted).
  4. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 6.
  5. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 7.
  6. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 8.
  7. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 9.
  8. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 12.
  9. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 10.
  10. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 22.
  11. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 23.
  12. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 24.
  13. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 25[a].
  14. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 29.
  15. ↑ 31A Am. Jur. 2d Extortion, Blackmail, etc. § 53 (citing State v. Dispoto, 189 N.J. 108, 913 A.2d 791 (2007)).
  16. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 32.
  17. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 3.
  18. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 4.
  19. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 5.
  20. ↑ Crump, David; Cohen, Neil P.; Levenson, Laurie L.; Parry, John T.; Pether, Penelope (2010-04-26). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Lawyering Strategies. LexisNexis. ISBN   978-0-327-17631-2.
  21. ↑ 31A Am. Jur. 2d Extortion, Blackmail, etc. § 53 (citing Model Penal Code § 211.3).
  22. ↑ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 12.5 (citing West's Ann.Cal.Penal Code § 422).
  23. ↑ "Penal Code Title 5. Offenses against the person Chapter 22. Assaultive offenses". www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us.
  24. ↑ "Terroristic Threat Law & Legal Definition". USlegal.com.
  25. ↑ "Statutes Related to Hate Crime and Terrorism" (PDF). Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
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