Kidnapping

Kidnapping can occur for a variety of reasons, with motivations for the crime varying particularly based on the perpetrator.

[2][3] Typically this is done for financial incentive, with sums of money varying depending on the victim or the method of kidnapping.

The groups resort to ransom kidnappings to punish tax evasion and incentivize inhabitants not to shirk.

[3] A 2024 study argued that insurgent groups are more likely to engage in kidnappings "under two conditions: to generate support and reinstate bargaining capacity when organizations suffer military losses on the battlefield and to enforce loyalties and display strength when organizations face violent competition from other non-state actors.

[5] Express kidnapping is a method of abduction used in some countries, mainly from Latin America,[6] where a small ransom, that a company or family can easily pay, is demanded.

Express kidnapping is also used for an immediate ransom in which the victim is taken to an ATM and forced to give the captor money.

Previously these calls used to affect Spanish speaking communities in large cities, such as Los Angeles or Houston.

Yanette Rodriguez Acosta was found guilty of accosting victims for large sums of money, which she would pick up at a set drop off of point.

[8] In the past, and presently in some parts of the world (such as southern Sudan), kidnapping is a common means used to obtain slaves and money through ransom.

In the 19th century, kidnapping in the form of shanghaiing (or "pressganging") men supplied merchant ships with sailors, whom the law considered unfree labour.

They would take Jewish husbands from their homes in New York and New Jersey and torture them in order for them to grant gittin, or religious divorces, to their wives.

[16] Kidnapping that does not result in a homicide is a hybrid offence that comes with a maximum possible penalty of life imprisonment (18 months if tried summarily).

[18] The General Law to Prevent and Punish Crimes of Kidnapping establishes a prison sentence of 20–40 years for an individual convicted of holding another person as a hostage.

Penal Code 363 states that whoever kidnaps any person from Pakistan or lawful guardianship shall be punished with imprisonment of either description of a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to a fine.

Part 4 allows sentencing people that collaborate with kidnapping (such as proposing or make available a location where the victim hostaged).

[27] Lord Brandon said: "I should not expect a jury to find at all frequently that a child under fourteen had sufficient understanding and intelligence to give its consent.

The fact that a kidnapped victim may have been taken across state lines brings the crime within the ambit of federal criminal law.

Most states recognize different types of kidnapping and punish according to such factors as the location, duration, method, manner and purpose of the offense.

Hundreds of kidnappings for ransom occurred in the city, as per the Times, most of them having connections to Mexican drug and human trafficking as a way to pay off unpaid debts.

The falsified data can be attributed to a variety of issues within the southwestern United States as a whole, including misclassification by local police, lack of unified standards, a desire for Federal grants, or the Mexican Drug War.

[46] This is in comparison to 2010, when they were ranked sixth in the world (by absolute numbers, not per capita) for kidnapping by ransom, according to available statistics (after Colombia, Italy, Lebanon, Peru, and the Philippines).

[54] According to Pax Christi, a Catholic peace movement, "Kidnapping seems to flourish particularly in fragile states and conflict countries, as politically motivated militias, organized crime and the drugs mafia fill the vacuum left by government".

This factors from a variety of aspects, including socioeconomic disparities, insufficient resources, and flawed judicial systems.

[38] The annual number of recorded kidnappings per capita by country for the last available year, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is shown in the table below.