![]() The criminal act element required for robbery is a taking of personal property by force or threat of force.Ind. It is the criminal act element that primarily distinguishes robbery from larceny and extortion. Robbery has the elements of criminal act, attendant circumstances, criminal intent, causation, and harm, as is explored in Section 11.2. For the purpose of brevity, only the elements of robbery that are distinguishable from larceny and extortion are analyzed in depth. The elements of robbery are very similar to the elements of larceny and extortion. When robbery does not result in death, it is typically graded more severely than theft under a consolidated theft statute. Recall from Chapter 9 that robbery is generally a serious felony that is included in most felony murder statutes as a predicate felony for first-degree felony murder. The criminalization of robbery was a natural progression from other common-law crimes against the person because robbery always involves force, violence, or threat and could pose a risk of injury or death to the robbery victim, defendant, or other innocent bystanders. Robbery was the first common-law theft crime. Thus in many jurisdictions, Trent has an affirmative defense that the money demanded was compensation for services and not the subject of unlawful theft by extortion. ![]() Although Trent threatened to expose Tara’s secret if she didn’t pay him one thousand dollars, Trent honestly believed he was owed this money for a job he performed that was directly related to the secret. Trent has probably not committed extortion in many jurisdictions. Trent threatens to tell Tara’s competitor what she is up to if she doesn’t pay him the one thousand dollars. Tara tells Trent she is experiencing “tough times” and can’t afford to pay him. Trent spends several hours performing this task and thereafter demands his one thousand dollars payment. Tara promises to pay Trent one thousand dollars for his time and effort. She asks him to make an appointment with the competitor, ask a lot of questions about the owner of the property, and thereafter bring Tara the information. Tara tells Trent to pretend he is a buyer interested in the property. Tara decides she wants to get the property listing of a competitor by using Trent to obtain information. Tara, a real estate broker, hires Trent to be a real estate sales agent in her small realty office. The Model Penal Code provides an affirmative defense to extortion by threat of accusation of a criminal offense, exposure of a secret, or threat to take or withhold action as an official if the property obtained was “honestly claimed as restitution or indemnification for harm done in the circumstances to which such accusation, exposure, lawsuit or other official action relates, or as compensation for property or lawful services” (Model Penal Code § 223.4). In many jurisdictions, it is an affirmative defense to extortion that the property taken by threat to expose a secret or accuse anyone of a criminal offense is taken honestly, as compensation for property, or restitution or indemnification for harm done by the secret or crime.Ga. ![]() Note that some of these acts could be legal, as long as they are not performed with the unlawful intent to steal.Įxtortion is a form of theft, so it has the same attendant circumstance required in consolidated theft statutes-the property stolen belongs to another. ![]() The Model Penal Code criminalizes theft by extortion when the defendant obtains property of another by threatening to inflict bodily injury on anyone, commit any criminal offense, accuse anyone of a criminal offense, expose any secret tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or impair his credit and business repute, take or withhold action as an official, bring about a strike or boycott, testify with respect to another’s legal claim, or inflict any other harm that would not benefit the actor (Model Penal Code § 223.4). The criminal act element required for extortion is typically the theft of property accomplished by a threat to cause future harm to the victim, including the threat to inflict bodily injury, accuse anyone of committing a crime, or reveal a secret that would expose the victim to hatred, contempt, or ridicule.Ga.
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