In some jurisdictions, if the person kidnapped either was not released by the defendant in a safe place or had been seriously injured or sexually assaulted, the offense is kidnapping in the first degree. These degrees are classified differently from state to state but are generally based on severity or harm to the victim. The most common are first-degree kidnapping and second degree kidnapping.
There are different degrees of kidnapping. Under the Model Penal Code, which is a set of standard criminal rules shaped by the American Law Institute, kidnapping occurs when any person is unlawfully and non-consensually asported and held for following purposes: (a) to hold for ransom or reward, or as a shield or hostage (b) to facilitate the commission of any flight or felony thereafter (c) to inflict bodily injury on or to terrorize the victim or another or (d) to interfere with the performance of any governmental or political function. When a person, without lawful authority, physically transports or moves another person without that other person’s consent, with the intent to use the abduction in connection with some other nefarious objective, then the crime of kidnapping has occurred. There are federal kidnapping statutes which prohibit kidnapping in United States territories, kidnapping on the high seas and in the air, and kidnapping of government officials. The federal kidnapping statute, also known as the Lindbergh Act, prohibits interstate kidnapping. The various state kidnapping statutes seek to secure the personal liberty of citizens and imposes the assistance of law necessary to release them from unlawful restraint. Gradually, the involuntary detention of the victim became the key element of kidnapping. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, states began to redefine kidnapping, most notably eliminating the requirement of interstate transport. The early common law defined the offense of kidnapping as the forcible abduction or stealing of a man, woman, or child from his or her own country and sending him or her into another country.
United States kidnapping laws have been derived from common law principles of kidnapping developed originally by common law in England. This article shall deal with both California and Federal law in this area of the law. The AMBER Alert Coordinator at the Justice Department works with states, broadcasters, and law enforcement agencies to set up AMBER plans, to serve as a point of contact to supplement existing AMBER plans, and to facilitate appropriate regional coordination of AMBER Alerts. Under this bill, the attorney general, in cooperation with the secretary of transportation and the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), appoints a National AMBER Alert Coordinator to oversee the communication network. Kidnapping is also a federal crime and several federal statutes have been enacted to address this issue including the Federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act and Congress passed a national AMBER Alert bill as part of the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003. Kidnapping and Abduction laws vary from state to state, but normally apply to anyone who, without lawful authority, forcibly seizes and confines another, with intent to cause such other person to be secretly confined or imprisoned against his or her will. Thus the crime of kidnapping and related civil suit for remedies occurs in far more circumstances than that common demand for ransom. Also, at times kidnapping may be performed without true conscious criminal intent, with the accused claiming that at all times perceived consent was involved and that the charges of abduction were only fabricated long after the event. Kidnapping for ransom is the first thought that comes to mind when one considers abduction and kidnapping but in reality many charges of kidnapping relate to child custody disputes in which a parent removes a child from the custody of the other parent and/or the jurisdiction of the court.
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