The difference between robbery and extortion is important for law students to know. In future practice, no matter who they work as lawyers, prosecutors or investigators, knowledge of these fundamentals will be simply necessary. The Criminal Code has several articles with very similar crimes. This is robbery, extortion, robbery. But they are similar only at first glance. In fact, there is a significant difference between them.
Robbery
In order to clearly determine the difference between robbery and extortion, we will first understand what robbery is.
In legal practice, robbery is understood as an open or secret attack on the victim (for example, when the victim is sleeping or the attack comes from an ambush). In order to qualify a crime precisely as robbery, it is necessary that it be used with the commission of violence that would pose a threat to life or health. In this case, the harm should be moderate or severe.
At the same time, according to many signs, robbery is similar to theft. But at the same time robbery is considered as one of the most dangerous forms of theft. After all, the criminal at the same time encroaches not only on the property, but also on the personality and health of the victim.
Types of Robbery
Lawyers identify several types of robbery. Depending on how a judge qualifies a crime, an attacker may face a particular sentence.
For example, one of the aggravating circumstances during a crime is the existence of a preliminary conspiracy that was committed before the crime itself. It is important to understand that the suspects acted not spontaneously and not in a state of affect, but consciously went to the crime, preparing in advance for the crime. In this case, they will face a more severe punishment.
Another type of robbery is a crime with the use of weapons. After all, it is it that creates a direct danger to life and human health.
Perhaps the most dangerous of these is considered robbery with causing serious harm to health. Moreover, to determine the guilt and punishment the offender does not matter when the harm was done - at the time of the crime or after it.
The difference between robbery and extortion
The fundamental difference between these two crimes is that extortion is understood as an encroachment not only on the property of another victim, but also on his rights. This may be property, housing or inheritance rights. This moment must be present in order to qualify the crime precisely as extortion. The difference from robbery and robbery is another important factor. It is this encroachment on rights that ultimately leads to the illegal possession of other people's property.
As a rule, extortion is accompanied by real threats of physical violence against the victim. Threat in this case is a means to an end by a criminal.
The difference between robbery and extortion is that violence is not a means of taking possession of property, but reinforcing that the threats are real. If in the case of robbery violent acts and seizure of property occur simultaneously, then with extortion intent is aimed at obtaining the required property in the future. While violence can be committed here and now. This is the difference between forced extortion and robbery.
Robbery
Another similar crime against the personality and property of a citizen is robbery.Often at the time of contacting law enforcement agencies, the crime is qualified incorrectly, taking robbery for robbery. Because of this, confusion and even confusion may arise in the subsequent consideration of the case in court.
Robbery is assigned a separate article in the Russian Criminal Code. Its number is 161. Robbery is understood as theft, which was committed openly, and most often without the use of violence.
The difference between robbery and robbery, extortion and banditry will be discussed in detail in this article. For example, robbery and extortion are united by the fact that one and the other crime is aimed at seizing the property and property of the victim. The fundamental difference lies in the decisive action in the commission of an unlawful act. If in the case of extortion this is a requirement, then in the robbery it is simply an open theft. Thus, it can be seen that the objective side of these crimes is different.
Banditry
You should also distinguish between such a thing as banditry. In the Criminal Code, this is article No. 209.
Banditry is a multidimensional crime. This is its main feature. In this case, the threat of losing property and harm to health does not apply to a specific person, but to a large number of citizens and even entire organizations.
Banditry can cause disruption of the normal operation of enterprises and factories. Even cause concern among society.
An essential aspect of the crime, which can be interpreted as banditry, is the creation of an armed group of intruders, which is called the gang.
As a rule, such gangs have a strict hierarchy, leadership in the person of the leader. The gang’s attacks themselves may contain other crimes - for example, robbery, robbery or extortion. But if the court determines that the criminals acted as part of a gang, they will be judged by this article.
Arbitrariness
Another similar crime is arbitrariness. This is article No. 330 of the Criminal Code. The difference between extortion and robbery, robbery and arbitrariness in this case is that the latter is a blatant and unauthorized commission of certain actions that are unacceptable in accordance with certain regulatory legal acts. Moreover, the offender, in this case the subject, was aware of the fact that he commits unlawful acts.
Thus, we can conclude that the objective side of the crime is significantly different from, for example, extortion. If extortion includes illegal actions aimed at obtaining specific benefits by an attacker, then arbitrariness may not have any final goal.
Violent robbery
Separately, it is necessary to examine the differences between extortion and forced robbery and robbery.
The ultimate goal of extortion is to obtain property rights of the victim by intruders. In case of robbery, property is directly seized during the commission of the crime. This is a more fleeting illegal action.
If robbery is committed here and now, extortion can be a crime, significantly extended over time. Moreover, it should be accompanied not only by threats of physical violence, but also by psychological pressure on the victim in order to achieve his goal.