Blackmail. Lack of subjective part. Existence of the crime of threat

DREPT PENAL ŞI PROCESUAL PENAL

Abstract

For the existence of the crime of blackmail, it is necessary that the danger to which the victim is exposed be a future, and not an imminent danger, and the result of the violence or the threat, pursued by the defendant, be distanced in time from the act of constraint. As long as there is no requirement that the deed be likely to produce to the person against whom it is committed a state of fear, a constitutive element of the crime is missing. The form of guilt in the case of blackmail is intent, in both manners, direct or indirect. The unjust gain of a benefit is a condition attached to the subjective element. If the intention is not to gain a benefit, the act is not blackmail, but possibly another crime, namely threat. As long as the defendant did not pursue the purpose provided by the incrimination rule, namely the unjust gain of a non-patrimonial benefit, he/she did not act with the guilt required for the existence of the blackmail crime, in which case the psychological constraint means the crime of threat.