In this paperwork, I am going to discuss the following subject about threat of violence; when they are considered as crime giving examples of such criminal threats. I will also talk about what happens when criminal threats are made though interstate communication devices, giving my stand as to whether these threats should be termed as criminal deeds.
Through a literature review, according to the California Supreme Court conclusion approved in 2001, it affirmed that if a person makes a threat of violence and has intention to follow through, it can be considered a criminal act. It is important to note that for a threat of violence to be considered as a crime; the prosecutor must be in a position of proving that the individual deliberately threatened to critically hurt or murder another person. The prosecutor must, clearly, prove that the individual intended to execute his or her verbal, by providing evidence that can be in written form or electronically communicated statement. It is now clear that threats of violence are crime, as long as it sensibly causes the casualty to apprehend any forthcoming hurt.
Workplace violence, terroristic threat, ethno violence, and verbal violence are examples of criminal threats. Terroristic threat is defined as a condition when a person threatens to commit any crime of violence against another individual with the intention to terrify. Workplace violence, known to many as the threat of violence against workers, consists of verbal abuse, physical abuse, and sometimes results to homicide. Workplace violence is considered as the leading causes of job-related deaths (Fleet, 2010). Ethno violence is another example of criminal threats, whereby, a person may be exposed to hostile behavior as a result of his or her race, nationality, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
Research has it that the U.S. recognizes the act of sending threatening email or messages through the internet as a federal crime. It states, the U.S .Statute 18, that whoever broadcasts in interstate any message containing any threat to abduct any individual or any threat to harm the individual, shall be fined under this title or jailed not more than five years. It is, therefore, clear that the act of sending threatening electronic mail is a punishable offence (Fleet, 2010). According to my stand, threats of violence should all be recognized as criminal acts as long as the person saying them is not mentally disabled. Through research, individuals who have used threats of violence have ended up fulfilling their deeds, hence the reason why we should all come together in bringing to an end this uncouth behavior.
Works cited
Fleet, David D., and Ella W. Fleet. The violence volcano: Reducing the threat of workplace
violence. Charlotte, NC: IAP, Information Age Pub., 2010.Print
