The Features of Crime of Threat in the Iran and US Criminal Law

Abstract

Threat is one of behaviors which punishment is considered for it in the criminal law of Iran and US. The importance of investigating on crime of threat is where, persons and civilians in accordance with domestic laws and international instruments have the very important right as “freedom of speech” and the mentioned right violation is accompanied by criminal sanctions, on the other hand, some words or committing a specific behavior by them and according the same rules is banned and considered as is criminal threats. Nevertheless, laws of both countries have adopted different approaches in regards to terms of realization of the crime and its various manifestations. Knowing the characteristics of the crime play a significant role in explaining and analyzing criminal behavior and compliance with legal cases. Some of these features in the laws of both countries explicitly and others have been stated implicitly. The lack of clear rules regarding certain characteristics of the threat, made it difficult that jurists, judges and lawyers to understand these features. Therefore, in this paper determine the characteristics of the threat in the Iran an US law.