What Are the Kidnapping Laws in California?

What Are the Kidnapping Laws in California?

As defined in California Penal Code 207 PC, kidnapping is the act of moving someone a substantial distance, against their will, by force or fear. Essentially, it is "simple kidnapping" that carries a maximum prison sentence of eight years. According to California Criminal Jury Instructions 1215, these crimes have certain elements. In PC 207, it is stated:

(a) Kidnapping occurs when someone is forcibly taken, held, detained, or arrested and taken to another country, state, county, or a part of a county, using fear.

It is required that the victim move a considerable amount, or a non-trivial distance, to meet the movement requirement. It is impossible to define exactly how far a distance qualifies as "substantial."

Courts typically consider the following factors when determining whether this element has been met: ● Did the activity improve the danger to the victim? ● Did the movement assist the perpetrator to avoid detection? ● What was the exact space the victim was moved to?

The victim’s action must be accomplished by either power or fear, which means involving physical force. Fear is frequently used in abduction issues through a harmful weapon, such as maintaining the victim at gunpoint or knifepoint. A connected, more severe offense is Penal Code 209 PC aggravated kidnapping which is charged when a person kidnaps someone for: ● ransom or compensation, or ● to execute another criminality, such as rape or carjacking. ● If condemned to PC 209, you could meet a life punishment in jail. Abduction is also a “strike” violation under California’s three-strikes rule.

Unfortunately, Penal Code Section 207 permits some freedom and flexibility for the prosecutors to assign somebody with abduction when they likely shouldn’t be capable to do that.

That’s not a life charge, but it’s still an extreme case. According to Criminal Justice attorney Matt Horeczko, you’re still encountering jail time, and obviously, nobody likes a kidnapping charge on their history, which is a strike, and you have to perform 85% of any time you get – whether it be in county prison or state prison.