Aggressive speech is relatively common. Many people utter fighting words in disagreements with others over sporting events or conduct at a retail establishment. People have become accustomed to using aggressive and inflammatory language online as well.
Most of the time, those who angrily speak to another person or share something dramatic online move on with their day after calming down. Occasionally, they may find themselves accused of a crime. While the First Amendment does protect the freedom of speech, there are a few limitations on that freedom.
Specifically, people cannot utter terroristic threats without risking criminal consequences. Anyone accused of making a terroristic threat could face prosecution even if they never actually harmed another person.
What constitutes a terroristic threat?
State statutes identify two distinct forms of terroristic threats. Often, terroristic threats involve spoken or written words intended to manipulate the conduct of others.
Threatening an act of violence at a public gathering, such as a religious event or a movie release, could constitute a terroristic threat. Any threatening language specifically intended to manipulate the actions of others with fear and alter public behavior that could constitute a terroristic threat.
The law also recognizes threats against individuals as terroristic threats. In such cases, the person uttering the threat has to do so in a way that seems credible to the targeted person and to others. If a reasonable person might hear the threat and assume that there was an intent to carry it out, then the person making the threat could be at risk of criminal prosecution.
What are the potential penalties?
A terroristic threat during a time of a national emergency is a second-degree crime. The penalties could include between five and 10 years in prison, as well as up to $150,000. Other times, it is a third-degree crime, which carries up to five years in prison and $15,000 in fines.
Credible homicide threats made to another person are usually a third-degree crime, but it may be a second-degree crime in some cases. If the person threatened is a prosecutor, police officer or a family member of such professionals, the offense is a second-degree crime.
Anyone accused of making terroristic threats or other crimes associated with violence is at risk of a serious criminal record and very concerning penalties. Working with a criminal defense attorney can help people reframe behavior that may seem like a terroristic threat and minimize the potential of a criminal conviction.