You are in violations of these laws if you are guilty of all of the following:. In order to be guilty of kidnapping, you need to move the victim a substantial distance.
In order to determine whether the distance is substantial enough to be considered kidnapping, several factors are taken into account, including:. It is possible for kidnapping charges to be supported by movement of a very short distance under certain circumstances. For example, if the defendant were to move the victim only 30 feet out of the view of potential witnesses in order to rape or otherwise physically harm them.
This short distance is considered substantial enough because the intention of the movement is to make it easier to inflict harm upon the victim. In order for kidnapping charges to be supported, the victim must be moved without their consent. This means that the victim either put up a fight, or did not voluntarily agree to go with the defendant.
Children and people who are intoxicated or otherwise mentally incapacitated are considered able to give consent. In order to be convicted of kidnapping, it is not enough to simply move the victim, you must use physical force, threats of physical harm, or fraud in order to do so.
This could include restraining or dragging the victim force or threatening the victim with a knife or a gun fear. In some cases this is a form of kidnapping. There is one small difference between false imprisonment and kidnapping: in order for a charge to be kidnapping as opposed to false imprisonment, the accused has to have moved the victim.
This movement can be very slight; however, a prosecutor may have difficulty obtaining a kidnapping charge if the imprisoned individual was only moved from one room to another. False imprisonment is a felony with up to 10 years in prison for conviction. Kidnapping is considered a violent felony and carries at least 10 years in prison without parole for conviction of this crime. Contact The Merchant Law Firm today to receive aggressive defense on your behalf.
Depending on the unique circumstances involved in your case, you may be prosecuted with kidnapping or with other similar offenses. According to the Georgia Code, the types of kidnapping or related charges that can be prosecuted include:. False imprisonment does not require movement and has a lower level of intent, so it is generally graded as a gross misdemeanor or a low-level felony 18 Pa. Factors that can aggravate grading of false imprisonment are the youth of the victim 18 Pa. Change the facts so that after fifty miles of driving, Shawna asks Thomas to pull over and let her out.
Thomas pulls over but thereafter locks all the doors and refuses to let Shawna out for twenty minutes, in spite of her begging and pleading for him to unlock the doors.
In this case, Thomas might have committed false imprisonment. Thomas did not move Shawna without her consent because he pulled over and stopped the vehicle at her request. However, asportation is not required for false imprisonment. Thus these facts indicate the lower-level crime of false imprisonment rather than kidnapping, and Thomas may be charged with and convicted of this offense.
As stated previously, consent is a potential failure of proof or affirmative defense to kidnapping and false imprisonment in some jurisdictions. Another potential defense is lawful authority to execute the kidnapping or false imprisonment.
Thus when a law enforcement officer or a citizen lawfully arrests a defendant, he or she is not committing kidnapping or false imprisonment. By the same token, if an arrest is executed unlawfully , it might be kidnapping, false imprisonment, or another related offense N. Figure Because of a dramatic increase in the abduction of children by their estranged parents and parental interference with child custody and visitation agreements, almost all states have specifically criminalized interference with the custody of children 18 Pa.
The significant features of these modern offenses are their specific applicability to parents as defendants and various defenses based on the good faith belief that the child would be in danger without the allegedly criminal conduct 18 Pa. Answer the following questions. Check your answers using the answer key at the end of the chapter.
People v. Dominguez , P. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Search for:. Define the criminal intent element required for kidnapping. Define the harm element required for kidnapping. Define the attendant circumstance element required for kidnapping. Analyze kidnapping grading. All states categorize kidnapping as a felony offense, though states have different degrees of felonies that have different sentences associated with them. More significant penalties are typically given in cases where the victim is a child or where the victim was injured, sexually assaulted, or exposed to danger.
In many states, no time limit exists for charging kidnapping crimes. This time limit is referred to as the criminal statute of limitations. While a prosecutor might only have a few years to bring charges in other types of criminal cases, typically murder and kidnapping have either no time limit or very lengthy time limits for charging.
Kidnapping is one of the most serious criminal offenses a person can be charged with. Even if you are investigated or suspected of kidnapping and never charged, you can suffer a social stigma that can last with you for a lifetime. Being convicted of kidnapping will likely bring significant criminal penalties and cripple your future chances at employment. If you are facing a kidnapping charge you need to speak to an experienced criminal defense attorney in your area right away.
Only an experienced local defense lawyer can advise you on how to proceed in any kidnapping case. You need a lawyer who is not only knowledgeable about the kidnapping laws in your area but also one who knows how the local courts operate and is familiar with local prosecutors and judges. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site.
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