From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Extortion
Extortion
Consent · Diminished responsibility
Duress · Entrapment
Ignorantia juris non excusat
Infancy · Insanity
Intoxication defense
Justification · Mistake (of law)
Necessity · Loss of Control (Provocation)
Other common law areas
Contracts · Evidence · Property
Torts · Wills, trusts and estates
Criminal law
Portals
Part of the common law series
Criminal justice · Law
Element (criminal law)
shakedown, outwresting,
Extortion (also called shakedown outwresting and exac-
Actus reus · Mens rea
tion)
tion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person
Causation · Concurrence
unlawfully obtains either money, property or services
Scope of criminal liability from a person(s), entity, or institution, through coercion.
Complicity · Corporate · Vicarious Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistical-
ly called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by
Inchoate offenses organized crime groups. The actual obtainment of money
Attempt · Conspiracy · Solicitation or property is not required to commit the offense. Mak-
ing a threat of violence which refers to a requirement of
Offence against the person a payment of money or property to halt future violence
Assault · Battery is sufficient to commit the offense. Exaction refers not
False imprisonment · Kidnapping only to extortion or the unlawful demanding and obtain-
Mayhem · Sexual assault ing of something through force,[1] but additionally, in its
Homicide crimes formal definition, means the infliction of something such
Murder · Felony murder as pain and suffering or making somebody endure some-
Manslaughter thing unpleasant.[2]
Negligent homicide Extortion is distinguished from robbery. In armed
Vehicular homicide robbery, the offender takes goods from the victim with
use of immediate force. In robbery goods are taken or an
Crimes against property
attempt is made to take the goods against the will of an-
Arson · Blackmail · Burglary other—with or without force. A bank robbery or extor-
Embezzlement · Extortion tion of a bank can be committed by a letter handed by the
False pretenses · Larceny criminal to the teller. In extortion, the victim is threat-
Possessing stolen property ened to hand over goods, or else damage to their repu-
Robbery · Theft tation or other harm or violence against them may oc-
cur. Under federal law extortion can be committed with
Crimes against justice
or without the use of force and with or without the use
Compounding · Misprision of a weapon. A key difference is that extortion always in-
Obstruction · Perjury volves a written or verbal threat whereas robbery can oc-
Malfeasance in office cur without any verbal or written threat.
Perverting the course of justice The term extortion is often used metaphorically to re-
Defenses to liability fer to usury or to price-gouging, though neither is legally
considered extortion. It is also often used loosely to refer
Defense of self to everyday situations where one person feels indebted
Defence of property
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Extortion
against their will, to another, in order to receive an es- individuals, often backed by blackmail or threats of
sential service or avoid legal consequences. violence.
Neither extortion nor blackmail require a threat of • Nuclear blackmail: Nuclear blackmail is a form of
a criminal act, such as violence, merely a threat used to nuclear strategy in which an aggressor uses the
elicit actions, money, or property from the object of the threat of use of nuclear weapons to force an
extortion. Such threats include the filing of reports (true adversary to perform some action or make some
or not) of criminal behavior to the police, revelation of concessions. It is a type of extortion, related to
damaging facts (such as pictures of the object of the ex- brinkmanship.
tortion in a compromising position), etc. • Prize: ransom offered instead of destroying a
captured vessel, a form of extortion deemed
United States acceptable under international law in the days of
In the United States, extortion may also be committed fighting sail.
as a federal crime across a computer system, phone, by • Price gouging: a pejorative term for a seller pricing
mail or in using any instrument of interstate commerce. much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. In
Extortion requires that the individual sent the message precise, legal usage, it is the name of a felony that
willingly and knowingly as elements of the crime. The applies in some of the United States only during civil
message only has to be sent (but does not have to reach emergencies.
the intended recipient) to commit the crime of extortion. • Tallage: Tallage or talliage (from the French tailler, a
part cut out of the whole) may have signified at first
any tax, but became in England and France a land
See also use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was
• Badger game: The victim or "mark"—often a married further limited to assessments by the crown upon
man—is tricked into a compromising position to cities, boroughs, and royal domains. In effect, tallage
make him vulnerable to blackmail. was a land tax.
• Clip joint: A clip joint or fleshpot is an establishment, • Terrorism: most simply, policy intended to
usually a strip club or entertainment bar, typically intimidate or cause terror. It is more commonly
one claiming to offer adult entertainment or bottle understood as an act which is intended to create fear
service, in which customers are tricked into paying (terror), is perpetrated for an ideological goal (as
money and receive poor goods or services, or none, opposed to a materialistic goal or a lone attack), and
in return. deliberately targets (or disregards the safety of) non-
• Coercion: the practice of compelling a person or combatants. Some definitions also include acts of
manipulating them to behave in an involuntary way unlawful violence or unconventional warfare, but at
(whether through action or inaction) by use of present, the international community has been
threats, intimidation, trickery, or some other form of unable to formulate a universally agreed, legally
pressure or force. These are used as leverage, to binding, criminal law definition of terrorism.
force the victim to act in the desired way. • Tiger kidnapping: the taking of an innocent hostage
• Confidence trick: (also known as a bunko, con, flim to make a loved one or associate of the victim do
flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, swindle or something, e.g. a child is taken hostage to force the
bamboozle) is an attempt to defraud a person or shopkeeper to open the safe; the term originates
group by gaining their confidence. from the prior observation of the victim, like a tiger
• Cryptovirology: a software scam in which a public does with its prey. Ransoms are often used alongside
key cryptography system crafts fake keys which these.
encrypt the user’s data, but cannot decrypt them • Wheel clamping: widely used in England by private
unless the user pays for the real key. individuals and companies to extort money from
• Danegeld: The Danegeld ("Danish tax") was a tax motorists. This practice is illegal in Scotland.
raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a
land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or
gafol in eleventh-century sources; the term Danegeld
References
did not appear until the early twelfth century. [1] Exaction - definition of exaction by the Free Online
• Dognapping: The crime of taking a canine from its Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia
owner, which usually occurs in purebred dogs, the [2] "Exact definition - Dictionary - MSN Encarta".
profit from which can run up to thousands of dollars. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31.
• Loan sharking: A loan shark is a person or body that http://www.webcitation.org/5kwc1Rfdf.
offers unsecured loans at high interest rates to
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Extortion
External links
• Legaltree, a Canadian legal portal, contains an article
describing the elements of the offence of extortion
under Canadian criminal law.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Extortion&oldid=468248922"
Categories:
• Crimes
• Extortion
• Illegal occupations
• Organized crime activity
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