Forum Overview :: Tansin A. Darcos's Alter Ego :: Getting sex by threat of prosecution is extortion (or blackmail in Wyoming)

[quote name="Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS)"][quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]Keep in mind this is all traditional stuff. Local laws and statutes vary, and generally the most egregious examples of loopholes (like the first hypo) have been legislated out of existence. [quote name="Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS)"][quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]Here's a hypo for you: an eighteen year old high school student is about to graduate as valedictorian of her class with a full scholarship to her local state school. A week before commencement, the principal calls her into his office and tells her that he knows that she's in the country illegally. However, he says that he will not turn her in if she agrees to have sex with him, meaning that she will still graduate and can attend college. Feeling like she has no choice with the spectre of expulsion, arrest, and deportation looming over her, she gives in. Rape or not rape?[/quote] Oh it's rape, there's no doubt about that. It's "threat of force," e.g. that the government will use force to remove her from the country. If nothing else, it's probably also extortion even if it didn't fit the exact definition of the statute for rape.[/quote] Under the traditional definitions, this is not rape. The principal did not commit a wrongful act at any point (legally, not morally):[/quote] Uh, wrong. Let's take Maryland's extortion statute: § 3-701. Extortion generally (a) Scope of section. -- This section does not apply to legitimate efforts by employees or their representatives to obtain certain wages, hours, or working conditions. (b) Obtaining or attempting to obtain property prohibited. -- A person may not obtain, attempt to obtain, or conspire to obtain money, property, labor, services, or anything of value from another person with the person's consent, if the consent is induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened: (1) force or violence; (2) economic injury; or (3) destruction, concealment, removal, confiscation, or possession of any immigration or government identification document with intent to harm the immigration status of another person. His action is the obtaining of labor or services - sex from her - or something of value - sex from her - through the threat of economic injury, e.g. making it so she cannot go on to college. Or this one: § 3-705. Extortion by verbal threat (a) Prohibited. -- A person, with the intent to unlawfully extort money, property, labor, services, or anything of value from another, may not verbally threaten to: (1) accuse any person of a crime or of anything that, if true, would bring the person into contempt or disrepute; or (2) (i) cause physical injury to a person; (ii) inflict emotional distress on a person; (iii) cause economic damage to a person; or (iv) cause damage to the property of a person. (b) Penalty. -- A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or a fine not exceeding $ 10,000 or both. Clearly he unlawfully extorted services by threatening to accuse her of a crime. Now whether the state she was in has a similar statute is another matter. Therefore it is arguable that getting her to allow him to have sex was the use of force - the commission of a crime, e.g. extortion - and thus he can be charged with both rape by force - the force being the crime of extortion - and the crime of extortion. I'll pick a couple more at random. Iowa. Iowa Code 711.4 Extortion . A person commits extortion if the person does any of the following with the purpose of obtaining for oneself or another anything of value, tangible or intangible, including labor or services: 1. Threatens to inflict physical injury on some person, or to commit any public offense. 2. Threatens to accuse another of a public offense. 3. Threatens to expose any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule. 4. Threatens to harm the credit or business or professional reputation of any person. 5. Threatens to take or withhold action as a public officer or employee, or to cause some public official or employee to take or withhold action. 6. Threatens to testify or provide information or to withhold testimony or information with respect to another's legal claim or defense. 7. Threatens to wrongfully injure the property of another. It is a defense to a charge of extortion that the person making a threat other than a threat to commit a public offense, reasonably believed that the person had a right to make such threats in order to recover property, or to receive compensation for property or services, or to recover a debt to which the person has a good faith claim. Extortion is a class "D" felony. Therefore the threat to turn them in to INS - or not turn them in if sex is given - violates Item 2. Obtaining labor or services by threat of accusation of a public offense. Let's pick another state. Wyoming. § 6-2-402. Blackmail; aggravated blackmail; penalties. (a) A person commits blackmail if, with the intent to obtain property of another or to compel action or inaction by any person against his will, the person: (i) Threatens bodily injury or injury to the property of another person; or (ii) Accuses or threatens to accuse a person of a crime or immoral conduct which would tend to degrade or disgrace the person or subject him to the ridicule or contempt of society. (b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, blackmail is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years. So it's blackmail rather than extortion in Wyoming. Interesting. But it's still a crime to threaten to turn someone in unless they have sex with you ("compelled action"). [quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]she is over 18, he did not threaten to wrongfully withhold her diploma, he has no legal duty to inform the authorities about her immigration status, nor is he required to keep it confidential. [/quote] True, but you can't threaten to turn someone in unless they give you something. That is the definition of extortion. [quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]Your interpretation of force is way too broad. When reading a statute, if the definition isn't included, go with the plain meaning. Here, the plain meaning of "force" is clearly "physical force with the intent to cause pain or injury," not the more nebulous "any kind of action that might be possibly unwelcome at some point in the hypothetical future."[/quote] Except that I got it right on the extortion issue. A threat to turn someone in for a crime if they don't have sex with you is a demand for action by someone on threat of criminal prosecution (and/or deportation). [quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]Almost any "threat" that doesn't include a wrongful act can easily be recast as an offer. "Have sex with me or I'll call ICE" versus "I won't call ICE if you'll have sex with me." The form is different but the substance is the same.[/quote] And it still represents the crime of extortion. Any attempt to get anything of value - and I think getting sexual favors are "something of value" - in exchange for not doing something such as reporting them, is extortion. There is no way you can demand sex from someone in which there is any implication of reporting them for a crime without tripping over the definition of extortion. [quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]Compare this to another hypo: a widow with three children is thrown out of her home. A kind male friend offers to take her in and she accepts. Three months later, he asks her to have sex with him and she does so, afraid that he will kick her and her children out if she refuses.[/quote] Where is the threat? If she has sex with him because of what she imagines might happen, is not the same thing as something that he personally says. If he asks her for sex, and makes no threat at all, he hasn't done anything wrong. Just because she thinks he would kick her out does not mean he would. Maybe he would, but absent some evidence he made some kind of threat it's presumed the sex is consensual. Otherwise any man who asked a woman to go to bed with him would be liable for rape, because there's always the <i>possibility</i> the guy could force her, or do something to her, if she didn't. [quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]Rape? What if he explicitly says "I'll continue to let you stay here if you have sex with me"? Is it rape then?[/quote] I don't like this one but I'll say no. There is no threat. She may not like the idea but she does have a choice. However, it might cross the line into extortion. If the guy is stupid enough to admit it to a cop, I suppose. However, there's no threat to property or to her personally. [quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]PS: Extortion is traditionally a crime that involves property. No property involved, no extortion.[/quote]And here, clearly as the laws of more than three states prove, you're wrong. Getting labor, action or inaction through threat of criminal prosecution is extortion (or blackmail in Wyoming). [/quote]