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Federal vs. State Crime
While some crimes are deemed to be state crimes, others are considered to be federal crimes. In essence, a vast majority of crimes are heard and determined in state courts as they happen to be state crimes. In seeking to distinguish between federal and state jurisdiction in prosecutions of a criminal nature, and in reference to crimes against persons, this text will concern itself with kidnapping. Kidnapping, in basic terms, has got to do with the illegitimate or illegal restraint/imprisonment and transfer of an individual from a specified place to another against his or her will (Carper, McKinsey, and West, 2007). Kidnapping could be prosecuted in either federal or state courts.
Kidnapping as a Federal Offense
When state lines are breached, then kidnapping automatically becomes a federal felony. More specifically, in the words of Bacigal (2008), “whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person when the person is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce” commits a federal offense as per the Federal Kidnapping Act. It is important to note that it is presumed that the transportation of a victim of kidnapping across...
This effectively warrants the involvement of the FBI and converts the kidnapping into a federal offense (Bacigal, 2008).
Kidnapping for the purpose of obtaining ransom was commonplace in the 20th century (Hickey, 2003). In what inspired what is popularly referred to as ‘the Lindberg Law,’ Charles Lindberg’s son was kidnapped in 1932 – with those who held him against his will demanding ransom for his release. It is this particular event that “led to the passing of the ‘Lindberg Law,’ which focused on kidnapping across state lines and made it a federal offense punishable by death” (Hickey, 2003, p. 272). Later on, an amendment to this law permitted the FBI to pursue all kidnapping instances “after 24 hours, even within state lines” (Hickey, 2003, p. 272).
Kidnapping as a State Offense
Kidnapping charges, it should be noted from the onset, vary from one state to another. Having said that, the prosecution of a majority of kidnapping cases takes place at the state level. According to Pollock (2015), kidnapping is considered a state crime in the absence of interstate elements. In the words of the author,…
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