A Slippery Slope: O.J. Simpson May Be Many Things, but a Kidnapper?
There's a movement afoot in the U.S. to expand the definition of kidnapping so that it covers all forms of assault. This is a dangerous, slippery slope. Potentially it can lead to the destruction of state statutes against kidnapping under that irksome Law of Unintended Consequences.
O.J. Simpson goes on trial this week in Las Vegas, NV, for several crimes, including kidnapping. The charge, if proven, carries a life sentence. Given that he evaded mass-murder charges, many Americans may hope that he is sent away for life this time, whether or not he is guilty. However, I'm asking you to consider this: If O.J. is convicted under this interpretation of the laws of kidnapping, you could be next. All you would have to do is grab another person in anger.
I have written previously about the laws of kidnapping in Illinois and the way at least one judge twisted them so that she could send an attempted sexual assault criminal to prison for 30 years instead of 15 years.
I have much to say about this issue of the laws of kidnapping. For now, I ask you to read the following:
A common-sense definition of kidnapping: http://www.legal-explanations.com/definitions/kidnapping.htm
A legal editorial from Chicago's WGN Radio about the kidnapping charges against O.J. Simpson: http://wgnradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36735&Itemid=448
Please also refer to my other "Kidnapping Posts." I kid you not: Lawyers are arguing about how far a victim must be "moved" for a kidnapping to have occurred.
Unless the victim can't walk back easily to where he/she was it isn't a kidnapping.
Here's a more interesting puzzle: You trick your drug addicted female friend into a car trip to a remote cabin for 'free drugs' which don't exist. When you get there you refuse to drive her back until she detoxes for several weeks. If she wants to go you offer her a map, water and food but point out that it is a 100 mile walk and she probably won't make it. Kidnapping or not? Are you obliged to offer her a ride? Is this kidnapping by a scheme?
Dear Voice,
Thanks for the comments. Two points:
1) A reasonable person might think that the legal definition of kidnapping would include something such as how far the abduction was, but in fact most state statutes emphasize ease of escape (in a way). Usually there needs to be some obstacle to the victim's escape, but the obstacle doesn't have to be distance. Many trials have hinged on whether or not kidnapping could occur over a distance of a few feet. In the case in which I served as a juror the issue was whether it was sufficient for the perpetrator to have kidnapped the victim by dragging her off a public sidewalk and up an embankment about ten feet. The prosecution claimed the distance was twenty feet, but it was clear from photographs that it was about half that distance.
2) The issue of justifiable "kidnapping" is another issue altogether. Parents frequently kidnap their children away from former spouses, for example. And the issue of the victim's rights is also peculiar.
In the current O. J. Simpson trial, the charge of kidnapping is based on the supposed victim being held against his will in his own hotel room for a brief period. Case law seems to favor a definition of kidnapping when a victim is held against his or her will during another crime, such as bank robbery. If a bank robber drags a teller into a safe and closes the door, holding the teller hostage, that is considered to be kidnapping. And I can see the legitimacy of this.
What I don't think is legitimately kidnapping would be a bank robbery in which one robber dragged away and held a teller or bank guard to restrain him or her while an another robber riffled through the cash drawers. That seems like a normal part of the robbery and should not be treated as a separate crime.
In every rape case, the victim is held against his or her will. The "holding" should not be charged separately in order to pile on punishment.
If O. J. Simpson robbed someone in his hotel room, the charge of kidnapping out not to be piled on in order to put Simpson in jail for life.
And, please believe me, I don't like O. J. Simpson.