Terroristic Threat

A terroristic threat is a threat to commit a crime of violence against a person or property, made with the intent to terrorize, to cause the evacuation of a building or public place, or in reckless disregard of causing such fear, without requiring that the speaker have any actual ability or intention to carry the threat out. Most jurisdictions do not require the threat to specify a time or precise manner of execution, and courts have upheld convictions based on a single utterance, a conditional threat, or a threat relayed by a third party. The offense can be committed by any means, including speech, writing, telephone, or a nonverbal symbolic act, and its required mental state is generally that the speaker intended to cause fear or acted in reckless disregard of that risk. American statutes descend in part from the Model Penal Code's definition of terroristic threats as an assault-related felony, and courts have generally upheld such statutes against free-speech and vagueness challenges, distinguishing a genuine threat from idle talk or hyperbole that carries no reasonable tendency to create apprehension.