Threats and blackmail as crimes against freedom

It is important to mention the definition of threats as crimes against freedom to be able to understand the concept in depth and with all its implications.

The Penal Code says that Anyone who threatens another with harm is punished. But this evil must constitute. in turn, a crime that can turn out to be homicide (that is, threatening to kill), also that of injuries (threatening with a beating), as well as abortion, torture and against moral integrity. They can also be threats that are formed in crimes against sexual freedom (threatening to rape the person), privacy, honor, heritage and the socioeconomic order.

In all these cases, it may be that directly threatens the person themselves, their family or other people with which it is closely linked.

In this way, it is established that The protected legal good (this is valued realities, such as life or health) in this case is the freedom of the person. Also the right that every human being has to personal tranquility in the normal development of their life.

Below we develop the main characteristics of the crime of threats and its main differences with blackmail.

The crime of threats as a crime against freedom

In general, jurisprudence considers that the crime of threats It is mere activity and is consummated with the arrival of the threat to the victim. This means that there is no need for a result to occur as a result of the offender’s actions in order to say that a crime has been committed. The act itself would be a crime.

In crimes against freedom, the regulation of threats It is made up of three different precepts. These are the following:

The concept of threat constituting a crimeregulated in article 169 of the Penal Code. What happens when that threat is directed against a group, article 170 of the Penal Code. Regulation of threats (conditional) that do not constitute a crimeand minor threats in the area of ​​domestic and gender violence, article 171 of the Penal Code.

When a threat is said to be conditional, it is because it is linked to a specific assumption that has to occur for the threat to become effective. For example, giving a sum of money in exchange for not beating someone to death.

How is it punished?

The penalty for the crime varies depending on whether the threat is conditional or not. If not conditional, the prison sentence is six months to two years. On the other hand, in cases in which this condition exists, it is also taken into account whether the guilty party has achieved his goal (a case in which he is punished with a prison sentence of one to five years) or not (prisonment of six months to three years).

For example, the offender could be considered unsuccessful if he had told an eight-year-old girl with whom he had had sexual relations that if she told anything he would kill her. However, the girl told her mother what happened, so The condition imposed to silence the facts, along with the death threat, was not met.

On the other hand, the criminal would have achieved his objective if, for example, he told a minor girl that if she did not give him more nude photos of her, he would post the photographs he already had of her in that situation on the Internet, thus achieving , the delivery of the images.

Basic legal aspects of blackmail

Blackmail punishes the demand from another for an amount or reward under threat. to reveal or disseminate facts regarding your private life or family relationships that are not publicly known and may affect your fame or interest. It is not the same as the crime of threats.

In this case, The expected penalty is imprisonment of two to four years., if delivery of all or part of what was required has been achieved. And that of four months to two years if it is not achieved.

For example, blackmail would consist of threatening a person with revealing to his or her partner the existence of extramarital sexual relations if a certain amount of money is not given.

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