Extortion
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:CrimLaw Extortion is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person obtains money, behaviour, or other goods or services from another by wrongfully threatening or inflicting harm to this person, reputation, or property. Euphemistically, refraining from doing harm is sometimes called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime groups.
Blackmail is one kind of extortion — specifically, extortion by threatening another's reputation with the disclosure of incriminating statements that are true or false about him. Even if it is not criminal to disclose the information, it constitutes extortion to demand money or other consideration not to disclose it. [1]
Extortion is distinguished from robbery. In robbery, the offender steals goods from the victim whilst threatening him with immediate force. In extortion, the victim willingly turns the goods over to avoid a threatened later violence or other harm.
The term extortion is often used metaphorically to refer to usury or to price-gouging, though neither is legally considered extortion. It is also often used loosely to refer to everyday situations where one person feels indebted against their will, to another, in order to receive an essential service or avoid legal consequences. For example, certain lawsuits, fees for services such as banking, automobile insurance, gasoline prices, and even taxation, have all been labelled "extortion" by people with various social or political beliefs.
See also
- Coercion by threat
- Clip joint
- Danegeld
- Badger game
- Jizya
- Organized crime
- Protection money
- Tallage
- Nuclear blackmail
- Cryptovirus — The use of public key cryptography to carry out cryptoviral extortion
Extortion is also a hardcore band hailing from Perth.