A House bill passed in the Senate on Wednesday before the General Bill deadline will create the Mississippi Terroristic Threat Law. HB 1264 was authored by Rep. Baker and would define a definition for what a terroristic threat is and classify it as a felony punishable by a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
House Bill 1264
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Mississippi Terroristic Threats Law.”
(2) As used in this section, the term "terroristic threat" means a threat to commit a crime of violence or a threat to cause bodily injury to another person and terrorization as the result of the proscribed conduct, which threat must have an intent to terrorize, harm, intimidate or disrupt a governmental function.
(3) (a) A person commits the offense of making a terroristic threat when the person making the threat causes a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of an offense and when so acting, the person has the intent to:
(i) Intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) Influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion;
(iii) Affect the conduct of a unit of government, educational institution, business or segment of the civilian population by intimidation or coercion; or
(iv) Affect the conduct of a unit of government by threatening murder, assassination or kidnapping or any other act deemed as terroristic in nature.
