Kidnapping

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Kidnap.jpg

Origin

probably back-formation from kidnapper, from kid + obsolete napper thief

Definition

  • 1: to seize and detain or carry away by unlawful force or fraud and often with a demand for ransom

Description

In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority. This may be done for ransom or in furtherance of another crime, or in connection with a child custody dispute. When it is done with legal authority, it is often called arrest or imprisonment.

In some countries such as the United States a large number of child abductions arise after separation or divorce when one parent wishes to keep a child against the will of the other or against a court order. In these cases, some jurisdictions do not consider it kidnapping if the child, being competent, agrees.

In modern usage, kidnapping or abduction of a child is often called child stealing and parental kidnapping, particularly when done not to collect a ransom but rather with the intention of keeping the child permanently (often in a case where the child's parents are divorced or legally separated, whereupon the parent who does not have legal custody will commit the act, also known as "childnapping").

Child abduction can refer to children being taken away without their parents' consent but with the consent of the child.[1]

See also