Kidnapping

The abduction of a person is “a socially dangerous deliberate act aimed at removing a person from his place of permanent residence and forcibly holding him in an unknown place for relatives and law enforcement agencies” ^[1] .

However, the inaccessibility and the unknown location of the detention, not all experts include in the necessary signs of abduction. Thus, the authors of two books of commentaries to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation define abduction as follows: “abduction of a person implies his capture and transfer to another place against the will of the victim. This is usually associated with the subsequent detention of the kidnapped in captivity ” ^[2] and“ kidnapping as a criminal act includes two elements: abduction and imprisonment, which are in perfect aggregate, since the abduction is also imprisonment ” ^[3] . In the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of May 17, 2000, kidnapping refers to unlawful intentional acts involving the secret or open taking (capturing) of a living person, moving from his place of permanent or temporary residence, followed by holding him against his will in another place.

Legal experts are still arguing about the necessary and sufficient signs of kidnapping, research articles are published on this subject and dissertations are defended.

• Bride abduction is a practice of bride abduction and forced marriage, widespread in the Caucasus, Ethiopia and other countries where similar customs have been preserved.
• “ Tiger kidnapping ” - abduction of a hostage in order to force his relative or close to perform certain actions, for example, taking a child hostage to force the store owner to open a safe. The term came from a long observation of tiger hunting in nature.
• Express abduction is one of the modern types of kidnapping in order to obtain a quick ransom from relatives of the abducted person, who are usually contacted by phone. Distributed mainly in Latin America.

Kidnapping for ransom is a common occurrence in various parts of the world today, some cities and countries are often called the “World Capital of Kidnapping”. In 2007, this name belonged to Iraq , in which about 1,500 foreigners were abducted ^{[6] [7]} In 2004, the so-called Mexico, ^[8] and in 2001 Colombia ^[9] . Obtaining statistics is difficult. The estimated number of abductions in the world is estimated at 12.5–25.5 thousand people / year, including 3.6 thousand people / year in Colombia and 3 thousand people / year in Mexico for 2000 ^[10] . But it should be noted that by 2006 the number of abductions in Colombia decreased to 687 and continues to decline ^[11] . The number of abductions in Mexico is difficult to confirm, because of the fear of the police to intervene in the abductions ^[12] . “Kidnappings seem to flourish tremendously in weak states and conflict-prone countries, where politically committed armed forces, organized crime, and drug mafia fill a vacuum not filled by the government.” ^[5] .

During 1999, it was reported in the United States that 203,900 children were abducted within the family and 58,200 outside the family. However, only 115 children became targets of “stereotypical abductions” (the kidnapper is unfamiliar or unfamiliar to the child, continuous detention or for ransom) ^[13] .

In Russia, according to official statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2012 566 kidnappings were registered, 366 were discovered ^[14] .

The annual total payments to criminal gangs is estimated at $ 500 million ^[15] .

On December 17, 1979, the United Nations adopted the "International Convention against the Taking of Hostages", which established the crime of hostage taking at the international legal level ^[16] . Nevertheless, the institution of hostage continues to exist in our time, both in the form of terrorist acts and in the form of “indirect” holding of hostages, when not people are held by force, but their documents or vehicles, without which their freedom is limited.

• Hostage
• Missing
• Stockholm Syndrome