Kidnapping: Legal And Social Aspects
Illegal detention and kidnapping, both crimes against freedom, are regulated in articles 163 and 168 of the Penal Code (CP). In particular, these crimes threaten freedom of movement or movement, freedom protected in the Constitution.
However, for the crime to occur it is not necessary for the victim to be totally immobilized. This freedom is also violated when a person is locked in a closed place, such as a home or garage, even if they have freedom of movement inside.
When it comes to developing the characteristics of the crime in greater depth, it is essential to understand that the law establishes illegal detention as the base criminal form. From this, milder or more severe modalities develop. Among them would be kidnapping.
Crimes against freedom
The CP, first of all, prohibits and sanctions illegal detentions. That is, it punishes anyone who locks up or detains another by depriving him of his freedom.
It is worth mentioning that, in this base type, the perpetrator of the crime can only be a private individual. That is, an individual person who does not hold a position that gives him special power. This is so because if the arrest is carried out by an authority (a policeman, for example) or a public official, we would be facing one of the aggravated cases of article 167 CP.
Kidnapping as an aggravated modality
As we mentioned previously, kidnapping is regulated as an aggravated modality with respect to illegal detention. The distinctive character of kidnapping is found in the requirement of a condition for the victim to be able to achieve freedom.
That is, if a person detains and locks up another for a time, we are facing an illegal detention. But if it also requires compliance with a condition to release the victim, we are facing a kidnapping. The most common example is the payment of an amount of money in exchange for the freedom of the kidnapped person.
In any case, compliance with the condition must be a requirement to release the victim. Interestingly, it can be imposed both on the detainee and on a third party. Although the condition is usually required of a third party, family member or person close to or interested in the victim’s freedom.
However, it is possible that the demand falls on the kidnapped himself. For example, a case in which a debtor is kidnapped and threatened not to release him until he pays the money he owes.
The psychological consequences of kidnapping
The experience of the victim of a kidnapping crime is strong, even in many cases traumatic. Various studies have been able to indicate how the kidnapped’s first reaction to being aware of the situation is to assess the real risk of dying. This fear is established in the person and can remain after being released.
Faced with the fear of suffering physical harm or losing one’s life, the body tends to react with anxiety responses. The body is alert because it tries to protect itself. All this gives rise to disorderly and impulsive behaviors that prevent objective analysis of what is happening in the environment.
Interestingly, one of the personal characteristics that seems to have the most influence on how this experience is lived is age. This is because older people tend to have more control over their emotions. Therefore, responses such as anxiety, fear or stress are less intense, so that they are able to think more clearly in aversive situations.
Young people develop much higher levels of anxiety. They present a psychological disorganization that can cause the appearance of maladaptive behaviors in these cases. In fact, young people can more easily show violent or challenging reactions against kidnappers. This can put your physical integrity and even your life at risk.
In any case, both adults and young people, simply because they have been kidnapped, suffer psychological abuse that leaves serious consequences. Therefore, people who have been victims of a kidnapping will need professional help to help them recover from the experience.
