Threat as a Criminal Law Category

The article examines the normative and doctrinal content of threat as a criminal legal category. The provisions of the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation are analyzed, where the threat is mentioned as a constitutive or qualifying feature. In the doctrinal aspect, the authors’ attention is focused on the issue of the relationship between the category of threat and related criminal law concepts of «coercion», «compulsion» and «mental violence». Based on the results, the conceptual approach of information impact is substantiated for further study of the criminal law category «threat».