Threatening terrorism against the United States is a
class C felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that res ...
punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment under . The elements of the offense are that someone
willfully
In criminal law, intent is a subjective state of mind () that must accompany the acts of certain crimes to constitute a violation. A more formal, generally synonymous legal term is : intent or knowledge of wrongdoing.
Definitions
Intent is d ...
threatens to commit a crime that will result in death or great bodily harm; the threat is made with the specific intent that it be taken as a threat; the threat is so unequivocal, unconditional, and specific as to convey a gravity of purpose and immediate prospect of execution; the threat actually causes fear in the victim; and the fear is reasonable.
Laws governing such threats were passed after the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. The law was amended by the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 2007. False information and hoaxes pertaining to attacks on U.S. officials, government buildings, airplanes, etc. are also punishable under as a class D felony, which is punishable by up to 5 years' imprisonment.
See also
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Disposition Matrix
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Domestic terrorism in the United States
Domestic terrorism in the United States consists of incidents which are confirmed to be domestic terrorist acts. These attacks are considered domestic because they occurred within the United States and they were carried out by U.S. citizens an ...
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Threatening government officials of the United States
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Threatening the president of the United States
References
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Illegal speech in the United States
Terrorism laws in the United States