Kidnapping and False Imprisonment, Essay Example

The crimes of kidnapping and false imprisonment share many commonalities. Both are serious offenses in which one or more individual is forcibly held under restraint. Durations of detainment may vary, as do the conditions under which the person or people is/are held. Intent, also, may be attributed to a wide array of motives. Ultimately, however, it is the essential element of the forcible restraint that defines both crimes.

There are, however, differences usually present. Kidnapping is commonly a case of actual abduction, wherein the victim is removed to an unknown destination, and frequently for purposes of extortion. The extortion may be financially motivated, or it may be driven by emotional considerations, as when a parent abducts a child removed from them by the court system. For some time, kidnapping was classified as a misdemeanor; only in recent history has it been viewed, and addressed, as a serious felony, and one frequently calling upon the resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is inevitable when a victim is transported across state lines (Hall, 2008,  p. 110), no matter the assumed impetus for the crime.   Kidnapping, moreover, is often a component within other felony offenses; rape, for example, often occurs following a temporary abduction, or kidnapping.  In any event, forcible restraint is employed, and this fits in with the legal definition of kidnapping (Scheb, 2008,  p. 154).

As insidious as kidnapping is, however, false imprisonment is a more severe and disturbing crime because it ordinarily relies on a pretense or abuse of actual authority, and more often the latter.   Somewhat mildly defined as “the unlawful restraint of one person of the physical liberty of another” (Hall, 2008,  p. 112), it includes crimes as varied as that of a parent locking a child in a closet, to a store security officer detaining a customer suspected of shoplifting. This latter case reveals the uniquely  treacherous aspect to false imprisonment, as it may be conducted through the guise of “official” business, or be enacted as an abuse of it. Both kidnapping and false imprisonment are inherently nefarious crimes, and neither should be viewed as “less” harmful than the other. Nonetheless, as evil intent is typically behind both crimes, false imprisonment is more reprehensible because it is usually a more calculated offense.

References

Hall, D. E.  (2008.)  Criminal Law and Procedure.  Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning.

Scheb, J. M.  (2008.)  Criminal Law. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.