What Constitutes a Terrorist Threat?
Laws against making a terrorist threat were enacted after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 by both state and federal levels, although each state may have its own version. A terrorist threat law is used to prosecute terrorists and many other criminal situations such as hate crimes, school violence and bomb threats. Five elements must be met for a crime to be considered a terrorist threat.
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Element One
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Someone must willfully threaten the life or great bodily harm of another person. The threat must be extremely dangerous. The method of threat does not minimize the severity of this crime; it can be made over the Internet, through a letter or verbally.
Element Two
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Someone must threaten another person with the intention making it a threat. This may seem tedious but it is meant to express that a threat is a crime even if there is no intention to follow through. If you threaten to kill someone, you are guilty of threatening murder regardless of being armed or not.
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Element Three
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The threat must be a statement of something the person will do, rather than what he can do. The threat can be a conditional threat but it cannot be vague.The statement "If the government raises taxes, I will blow up the White House" would constitute a terrorist threat. The threat is specific, yet conditional. However, if someone says, "If the government raises taxes, I may blow up a government building," the person would not be charged for it lacks specific details.
Element Four
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The threat must cause fear for the victim(s). The victim must feel threatened for the threat to be considered a terrorist threat.
Element Five
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The threat must be realistic. Any reasonable person must take the threat seriously. "I am going to blow up the school with a spaceship" does not constitute a realistic threat.
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References
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