Extortion

Abstract

Extortion is a predatory crime similar to other practices such as blackmail, bribery, coercion, and robbery. Extortion practices have been classified according to their degree of complexity and the professional occupation of the perpetrator. Simplest forms are related to episodic incidents, where a single offender receives a one-time benefit from one victim. Systematic extortion is usually perpetrated by organized crime groups that exact payments from multiple victims. Such well-rooted extortion practices over a certain territory have long been associated with Mafia-type organizations and denoted as protection racketeering. The scholarly debate on the genesis and nature of Mafia extortion practices continues to this date. While one of the influential theories contends that racketeering is an economic activity—provision of (extralegal) protection services—others postulate that it is rather an imposition of illegal taxation by quasi-political groups. Some scholars have also focused on “extortion under the color of office,” or, in other words, extortion perpetrated by public servants or politicians in their official capacity. However, the biggest challenge in conceptualizing and studying extortion perpetrated by public officials remains its distinction from bribery. Although in theory the two crimes can be distinguished by the degree of coercion involved in the crime and the role (or modus operandi) of public officials in the bribery and extortive scheme, it appears that in practice it is usually not possible to establish a difference.