Can Someone Go To Jail For Threatening To Kill You

Have you been threatened by someone to kill, or have you committed such an act unconsciously and now looking to know the penalties?

You’ve come to the right site if the answer is yes. In this guide, you’ll get to know what a criminal threat is, and then you or someone else committing the criminal threat can go to jail and their penalties.

You might also be worried about whether threatening someone is illegal or not and what to do if someone threatens you. No matter the situation, we have covered you all and thus have done in-depth research to compile a helpful guide for you.

Without wasting a moment, let us move forward and know whether someone can go to jail for threatening to kill you or not.

What is Criminal Threat?

Before knowing the jail imprisonment procedures, you must first understand a criminal threat.

A criminal threat means a crime that can be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor. Let’s suppose an example if you threaten someone to kill or injure the person; then it means you are committing a criminal threat.

However, you will be charged as well for this crime. But it entirely depends upon whether you have a clear history of crimes or whether the charges against you are insufficient to prove the charges.

Keeping the severity of the criminal threat in mind, the prosecutor will decide to charge you with which penalty.

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Can Someone Go to Jail for Threatening to Kill you?

Under the 1958 Crimes Act, threatening to kill someone is a criminal offense that can result in imprisonment. If you are threatened with harm or death, you have the right to file a complaint with the police and seek legal protection.

I have handled many criminal threat cases where the offender (who threatens you) can be charged with the following sanctions:

• A considerable amount of fine.
• A long jail time of at least 3 to 10 years.
• The offender has to sign an adjourned undertaking bond.
• Dismissal of the charges.

Consequently, if you are worried about thinking someone can go to jail for threatening to kill you or not, then the answer to this query is yes, but the felony should be proven with solid evidence.

You should also remember that someone can go to jail for threatening you if you allegate to them as soon as possible. Otherwise, the charges could be difficult to prove against the offender.

Activities involving Threats to Kill

Going into custody, depending upon the severity of your case, is a later process. Before it, you should be aware of the activities which are the causes of the threats to kill someone.

According to my experience, you can see the following possible cases of threatening to kill.

• Calling someone and threatening to kill them.
• You or someone else can receive texts from killing them or their family members.
• Some threats can even be shared over the internet, stating the purpose of killing a person.

Hence if you ever feel yourself a victim of these criminal threats, then rush towards hiring a professional attorney to help you in such situations.

Also Read: Signs Your Case Will Be Dismissed

Can you Go to Jail for Threatening Someone?

Everybody has a right to protection. That is why since threatening to kill is a felony, the offender will go to jail irrespective of the person. No matter if it’s someone else or you are threatening someone.

The threat to kill someone is one of the major crimes. Therefore it is taken seriously in almost every state of the world. Having this in mind, you should never commit such a felony because it will disturb your private life and make you suffer numerous penalties.

Penalties for you if you threaten someone for killing

Since threatening to kill is a crime so its penalties will surely be the same whether you conduct it or someone else. As we have read above, the minimum possible penalties for threatening to kill someone like going to prison for several years, adjournment bond, fine, or dismissal of charges. Exactly these penalties will apply to you as well.

Now you might think that you have not killed a person in real life but just tried or decided to do it, so still, can you go to jail for threatening someone? If you are thinking something like it, you should be aware that irrespective of your mindset, you have to go to jail for even making a little threat to someone (even if you have not murdered anyone). But with the condition that the evidence should be robust against you or the person committing the criminal threat.

Criminal Threats Conditions

A usual question from a few of my clients includes, “is threatening to kill someone a crime?”. If you are also wondering about an answer to this query by a professional attorney, I would like to inform you that threatening is a crime.

Regardless of the killing threats and the person who commits them, you should know what will happen in the following threat claims.

1. Threatening to kill someone

As we said above, threatening to kill someone is a felony; therefore, you should avoid such crimes.

Here, “threatening to kill someone” means never killing someone or anyone or physically injuring them. These physical injuries can vary from simple fights and dog bites to shooting with a gun.

Accordingly, if you think like that, whether threatening someone is illegal or not, now, as a result of the above discussion, you should be transparent enough that threatening someone is illegal.

2. Means of threatening to kill someone

You or any other offender will be convicted of the criminal threat of killing someone if the prosecutor provides the threat pieces of evidence in the following forms:

• Through a written form (in the form of texts).
• Through verbal means (calls).
• Through computers (here, by the term computer, I mean social media, videos, etc.)
• Through fax machines.

If you or any other person has used such means to threaten someone to kill, these could prove strong evidence against you. Many prosecutors use these criminal threat means to file several charges against you.

3. The recipient has to experience a persistent safety dread.

To prove the charges against you, the prosecutor will try to point out these situations:

• The prosecutor will force the discussions to support the recipient. In the threatening kill cases, the prosecutors mostly found the defendants guilty by saying that the recipient was frightened.
• The prosecutor may even support his arguments by stating that the recipient’s fear is adequate and appropriate enough to hold a case in court.

Although the prosecutors have to be answered with justice, thus they first determine the strength of the evidence regarding the fear of the recipient and then punish the defendant accordingly. If the case is severe, the defendant will be charged with a harsh penalty; otherwise, the defendant could be fined.

How can you be convicted of a threat to kill?

Primarily to convict you (the defendant) of a criminal threat to kill, the prosecutor has to prove some evidence besides their severity. If these got proven, the judge would call you to sentence according to your case.

Having this in mind, the prosecutor must prove the given situations:

• You threatened a person.
• You threatened to kill a person.
• You were trying to intimidate him by threatening him and did not even care about his fear.
• You did all these acts without following the boundary of the law rules. 

If the prosecutor can prove these cases, you will be arrested and fined accordingly.

What to do if someone threatens to kill you?

Some my clients complain that someone has threatened them to kill, so what should they do in such a case?

Well, I always suggest to them the following easiest ways to follow when someone is threatening them to kill.

 File a complaint against the offender in all the local law enforcement centers. That is what you (the defendant) should do as well.

Then after filing the complaint, arrange some particular security system for your home, office, or wherever your residence is.

The offender (the person threatening you) may run away when they come to know about their complaint. But if it doesn’t happen and the offender comes to kill you, you can kill him to save your life.

You may wonder how I can kill the offender, although it’s illegal.

To be straightforward, yes, as per our discussion in the above part explaining if threatening someone is illegal or not, we came to know that it is illegal. But here, for defending your life, and if the situation worsens, you can fend for yourself by killing the offender.

However, during a court hearing, you must prove that your life was indeed a threat due to that person; hence, just for your protection, you killed the offender. Otherwise, you did not intend to do so.

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FAQ’s

Is threatening someone illegally or not?

Yes, a criminal threat is obviously illegal. You might go to jail for this offense for several years, along with other penalties.

What occurs when someone is accused of making a criminal threat?

It is illegal when a person intentionally tortures another person to kill or injure them. Accordingly, if a person commits a criminal threat, they are charged with a felony or misdemeanor.