CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE

FIRST STUDENT RESPONSE FROM CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN

In my opinion robbery is more harmful to the victim because robbery can cause mental and physical damage to the victim. A robbery gone wrong can even lead to murder.

There are several types of robbery and an individual can be charged with either first or second degree for the crime. Types of robberies: armed robbery, strong armed robbery, robbery, and aggravated robbery. Most cases of robbery involve a weapon and physical harm to a person.

“Extortion is referred to as blackmail. It involves the effort to obtain money or some other valuable item from a person by threatening to expose the person to embarrassment and ridicule” (Wright, 2013).

Both crimes cause harm to the victim. People can be mentally affected by both crimes. Both crimes involve something being taking involuntarily from another. Extortion deals with a person’s reputation. Robbery deals with violence and physical force. Both crimes are felonies and are punished with jail time and/or fines. There is a possibility that both crimes can possibly lead to death, but robberies have a greater chance of leading to death than extortion. Robberies are usually committed by unknown strangers. Extortion happens by someone who knows information about the individual who they are committing the crime against.

Two wrongs do not make a right. Just because someone takes something from you it does not make it right for you to assault them because you are angry about the act that has taken place. If you are robbed or extorted go to the authorities and let them handle it. If you take matters into your own hands you will be just as guilty as the person who committed a crime against you. The law is put into place so that people can have justice. If you commit a crime to get even you can possibly be facing jail time and/or fines.

Reference:

Wright, R. (2013). Introduction to criminal law and procedure. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

SECOND STUDENT RESPONSE FROM ANDREW SENSEL

I feel that robbery causes more harm to victims over extortion. Extortion involves the careful use of leverage over someone to get your way. Failure to comply with an extortionist could result in serious or minor consequences from the exposure of a secret or to the more severe, harm to someone or others. Extortion is seen a lot in the corrections setting where inmates will lure officers into situations that cause them to break policy for example smuggling in contraband. Later when that inmate says that the officer will do it again, the use of that leverage which could result in the officer losing their job is put in place. It is common in the corrections setting which is why officers need to be mindful. Force does not always have to be involved in the commission of the act. Robbery normally involves at least the threat of force in commission of a theft (Wright, 2013). Here not only is there mental injury on a person, but there is also the real danger of physical force. For me, extortion involves great manipulation while robbery is more of a forceful tactic and does not require the knowledge to be able to pull off. A victim’s background I feel does not play a role in my viewpoint of the crime. We all have heard that two wrongs don’t make a right and it applies to this situation as well. For an armed robber, it doesn’t matter if a person owed money and you were going to get it back yourself. Credit lenders don’t send out people to break knee caps when a payment is missed so why would anyone else? Extortion is the same way where even if the victim did something terribly heinous, instead of trying to profit from their bad choices, report it like every other person should if it is serious enough. For petty things like an affair, the victim has to live with what they are doing and will eventually be found out as no secret stays secret forever.

Reference:

Wright, R. (2013). Introduction to Criminal Law and Procedure. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education Inc..