Peaceblinkfriend“Thanks for replying Patrick.
How do we refer to people who threaten others into giving up their valubles like mobile phones or wallet with a knife? The sort of people I want to refer to do just that but they don't actually want to stab their victim. Are they called thieves?
I am not studying law but I am taking Legal Studies at school.
Thank you again
PBF
”
Crime is categorised by laws, but in real life, one thing fades gradually into another.
This list is a mixture of legal and common use of some terms:
Opportunist theft generally implies no violence. Includes 'stealing by finding' and snatch-theft.
Mugging involves the threat or use of violence.
Actual bodily harm, abh, involves minor injury, even, perhaps, a scratch or bruise.
Grevious bodily harm, gbh, involves serious injury.
It may well be that, after the fact, a court of law would question the conscience of a mugger, and whether harm was seriously intended. For myself, I would take any threat to my person by someone with a knife as a threat to my life. I wouldn't stop to think about his or her moral stance or conscience.