law question-robbery or theft?

[curious]

Q#1:
If someone entered a store and produced a gun, pointed at the clerk and said "Give me all the money in the safe or else", would it be robbery or theft?

Q#2:
If a woman was walking in a parking garage and a man knocked her over and took her purse which held her credit cards and cash, would it be robbery or theft?

Thanks

[Drakor]

Both are robbery. Theft is stealing something that the other person will discover. Robbery is forcefully taking something from some one. Robbery with a gun is a first degree felony and hitting someone and taking their belongings without a deadly weapon is like a 2nd degree felony, maybe third.

[Jon]

The first would be armed robbery and the second would be considered Strong-armed robbery

[Glenn]

Curious

Canadian Criminal Code (CCC)

ROBBERY s.343 ccc

Every one commits robbery who

(a) steals, and for the purpose of extorting whatever is stolen or to prevent or overcome resistance to the stealing, uses violence or threats of violence to a person or property;


(b) steals from any person and, at the time he steals or immediately before or immediately thereafter, wounds, beats, strikes, or uses any personal violence to that person;

(c) assaults any person with intent to steal from him; or

(d) steals from any person while armed with an offensive weapon or imitation thereof.

steal means "to commit theft". In general, the difference between theft and robbery is that robbery involves actual violence, or the possibility of violence, to another person.
The violence need not be severe, nor need to cause an injury to the victim. Generally, any form of physical interference, from a push to a punch, will amount to "violence" for the purpose of section 343 (a).
Similarly, a threat of any form of violence will generally bring the accused's actions within the offence of robbery. To "extort" means to compel or to force.

robbery s.343
indictable
max. life imprisonment; if
firearm used, min 4 years imprisonment,
max life imprisonment.

In these two cases you mentioned, robbery would be committed in both cases.
In the first case, the accused will have an addittional 4 years added on to his sentence for using a firearm
Glenn

[Cpl Mike]

In California- 211/212 P.C.,punishable by 1-5yrs in state prison and there are enhancements for usage of a firearm....