Kidnapping

Criminal Law: Crimes Against the Person: Kidnapping

Introduction to Kidnapping

A felony in all jurisdictions, kidnapping generally involves the seizure, confinement, and, perhaps, the carrying away of another by force (or threat of force) against his or her will. It does not apply to those acting under the authority of the law. An aggravated form of kidnapping occurs if the purpose of the act is to (1) obtain ransom or reward; (2) use the victim as a shield or hostage; (3) facilitate the commission of another offense, such as robbery or rape; or (4) terrorize or inflict bodily injury on the victim. In the United States, a federal statute known as the Lindbergh Act makes it a federal felony to transport a kidnapped person across a state line. This law was adopted after the son of American aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and killed in 1932.” (1)

A Kidnapped Chinaman: International Incident

In the book “International Incidents for Discussion in Conversation Classes”, in relation to this subject, L. Oppenheim wrote in 1909: Sun Yat Sen, a political refugee from China, living in London, was induced, in 1896, to enter the house of the Chinese Legation in London. He was kept under arrest there in order to be conveyed as a prisoner to China, the Chinese envoy contending that, as the house of the Legation was Chinese territory, the English government had no right to interfere.

Kidnapping

Resources

See Also

• Lindbergh Act
• Abduction
• Hostage
• Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act
• Ransom
  

  Resources

  Notes and References

  • Information about Kidnapping in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

  Guide to Kidnapping

  In this Section

  Crimes Against the Person (including Murder, Manslaughter, Voluntary Manslaughter, Involuntary Manslaughter, Assault and Battery, Forcible and Statutory Rape and Kidnapping)

  Introduction to Kidnapping

  Kidnapping, in criminal law, offense involving taking and conveying away a person against his or her will, either by force, fraud, or intimidation. Originally the word applied only to the abduction of children, but early in English law it was employed to designate the same offense with regard to adults. Formerly, in common law, the offense of kidnapping was confined to the taking of persons from their own to another country, but such a restriction does not exist in the common law today.

  In most of the U.S. the crime of kidnapping is defined by statute. Merely enticing a competent adult away is not sufficient to constitute the crime. The crime can only exist when an abduction is carried out against the will of the person, either actually or constructively. For example, inducing a laborer to go to a distant place to work, by holding out extravagant promises that the employer does not intend to fulfill, does not come within the scope of this crime; but getting a sailor intoxicated and taking him aboard a strange ship, with design to detain him until the vessel is under way, and then to persuade or coerce him to serve as a seaman, has been held to constitute kidnapping.

  Kidnapping is also committed if the consent to such removal is induced by fraud, or if the victim is legally incompetent to give a valid consent, as in the case of a young child or of a feeble-minded person. The essential elements of kidnapping and of false imprisonment are about the same, except that the former includes, in addition to a detention, the act of carrying away the victim to another place, usually for the purpose of avoiding discovery.

  The penalty for kidnapping is generally severe in the U.S., and most states also make it a crime to attempt or conspire to commit a kidnapping. A federal law, popularly known as the Lindbergh Act, which was enacted in 1932 after the kidnapping of the child of the American aviator Charles Lindbergh, makes it a federal crime, punishable by life imprisonment, to kidnap a person and transport that person to another state. This law was amended in 1934 making conspiracy to commit a kidnapping also a federal crime. In 1968 the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated that section of the Lindbergh Act that gave the jury the power to recommend the death penalty for kidnapping.

  A person legally entrusted with the custody of another may not, of course, be guilty of kidnapping that person. A parent, however, may be guilty of kidnapping his or her own child if custody of the child has been given to another by court order or decree. When the parents have separated without legal decree, one may take the child from the other even by trick or deception, without committing the offense of kidnapping.

  In some parts of the world, kidnapping has now become a terrorist activity. In the 1980s, for example, some U.S. citizens have been kidnapped and held by terrorist groups operating in Lebanon.” (1)

  Resources

  Notes and References

  • Information about Kidnapping in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

  Guide to Kidnapping

  The Legal History of Kidnapping

  This section provides an overview of Kidnapping

  Resources

  See Also

  • Legal Biography
  • Legal Traditions
  • Historical Laws
  • History of Law

  Further Reading

  • Kidnapping in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History (Oxford University Press)
  • The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History (Oxford University Press)
  • Kidnapping in the Dictionary of Concepts in History, by Harry Ritter
  • A Short History of Western Legal Theory, by John Kelly