Terroristic threat
A terroristic threat is a threat to commit a
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,
The required
Terroristic-threat statutes have generally been upheld by the courts against constitutional challenges raising claims that such laws violate the
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
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
See also
- Terrorism
- Counterterrorism
- Bomb threat
- Death threat
- Stalking
- Harassment
- True threat
- Incitement to terrorism
References
- ^ Sonja Larsen, 86 C.J.S. Threats § 24 (database last updated Dec. 2015) (footnotes omitted).
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949 (originally published in 1986, subsequently updated).
- ^ Larsen, 86 C.J.S. Threats § 24 (database last updated Dec. 2015) (footnotes omitted).
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 6.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 7.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 8.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 9.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 12.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 10.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 22.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 23.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 24.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 25[a].
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 949, § 29.
- ^ 31A Am. Jur. 2d Extortion, Blackmail, etc. § 53 (citing State v. Dispoto, 189 N.J. 108, 913 A.2d 791 (2007)).
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 32.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 3.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 4.
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 5.
- ISBN 978-0-327-17631-2.
- ^ 31A Am. Jur. 2d Extortion, Blackmail, etc. § 53 (citing Model Penal Code § 211.3).
- ^ 45 A.L.R. 4th 949, § 12.5 (citing West's Ann.Cal.Penal Code § 422).
- ^ "Penal Code Title 5. Offenses against the person Chapter 22. Assaultive offenses". www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us.
- ^ "Terroristic Threat Law & Legal Definition". USlegal.com.
- ^ "Statutes Related to Hate Crime and Terrorism" (PDF). Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 15 December 2017.