1. What constitutes the crime of extortion?
1, object element
The object of this crime is a complex object, which not only infringes on the ownership of public and private property, but also harms the personal rights or other rights and interests of others. This is one of the remarkable characteristics that distinguish this crime from theft and fraud. The object of this crime is public and private property.
2. Objective factors
Objectively, this crime shows that the perpetrator forces the victim to hand over his property by means of threats, extortion and intimidation.
Threat refers to forcing the victim to dispose of the property with evil notice, that is, if he does not dispose of the property according to the requirements of the actor, he will be infringed by evil at some time in the future. There are no restrictions on the types of threats, including threats to the life, personal freedom and reputation of victims and their relatives. Threatening behavior only needs to make others feel scared, and does not require that the victim actually feel scared. It doesn't matter whether the content of the threat will be realized by the actor himself or by others, and the realization of the threat content does not require itself to be illegal.
Extortion only constitutes a crime in the case of a large amount or repeated extortion. If the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, it is an aggravating circumstance of this crime. The so-called serious circumstances mainly refer to: recidivists of extortion; A recidivist of extortion; Don't know the criminal facts of others, take the opportunity to extort money; Taking advantage of the danger of others to extort money; Pretending to be a state functionary for extortion; Blackmailing public or private property with a huge amount; The circumstances of extortion are particularly bad, resulting in the victim's mental disorder, suicide or other serious consequences; Wait a minute.
Threatening usually refers to grasping some handles of the victim or making some excuse to force him to deliver property, such as threatening to expose illegal and criminal facts such as corruption and theft or corrupt life style.
3. Main elements
The subject of this crime is the general subject. Any natural person who has reached the legal age of criminal responsibility and has the ability of criminal responsibility can constitute this crime.
4. Subjective factors
Subjectively, this crime shows direct intention and must have the purpose of illegally extorting other people's property. If the actor does not have this purpose, or the purpose of asking for property is not illegal, for example, the creditor uses threatening language to repay the overdue debt and urges the debtor to speed up the repayment, it does not constitute the crime of extortion.
Second, how many years will it take to commit extortion?
1. Article 274 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that whoever extorts public or private property in a large amount or repeatedly extorts it shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also or only be fined; If the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years 10 years and fined; If the amount is especially huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 and fined.
2. If the crime of extortion is constituted, the starting point of sentencing can be determined within the corresponding range according to the following different situations:
(1) If the amount reaches a large starting point, the starting point of sentencing can be determined within the range of three months of criminal detention to six months of fixed-term imprisonment.
(2) If the amount reaches a huge starting point or there are other serious circumstances, the starting point of sentencing can be determined within the range of fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than four years.
3. On the basis of the starting point of sentencing, the amount of punishment can be increased and the benchmark punishment can be determined according to the amount and means of extortion and other criminal facts that affect the constitution of the crime.
In the conviction of the crime of extortion, it depends on whether the specific behavior conforms to the criminal constitution of the crime of extortion. It should be noted that in order to effectively punish the crime of extortion, the Criminal Law Amendment (VIII) has made major changes to the crime of extortion. It lowered the threshold of conviction, raised the statutory maximum penalty and increased the punishment of property penalty. Therefore, once accused of extortion, Bian Xiao suggested that it is best to entrust a professional criminal lawyer to provide legal aid.
Extended reading:
Judicial interpretation of the crime of extortion
What's the difference between kidnapping and extortion?
What are the constitutive elements of extortion?