Blackmail is a crime wherein someone demands cash or other valuables from another person in exchange for not telling personal information or compromising information. The act of blackmailing is a felony and if a person is convicted of this, they could face extensive jail time.
There can be different levels of blackmail and varying sentencing. It would be taken into consideration how long the blackmail was going on, for what purpose, and whether there was remorse shown by the defendant. The core of blackmail is intimidation and coercive behavior that causes a person to do something out of duress, which benefits the person doing the blackmailing.