Why is kidnapping a problem

Journal Help. Font Size. Open Journal Systems. Abstract The main thrust of this study was to investigate the problem of kidnapping and its consequences on Nigerians in general and Uyo dwellers in particular.

Chi-square analytical tool was used to analyze elicited data at 0. In order to bring maximum attention to the subject, individuals and victims' organizations often publicized the prevalence of the crime by combining numbers for all missing children, including those taken by parents and those who had run away.

At various points in the s, Americans were led to believe that as many as a million children a year were missing and presumed to be the subjects of stranger abductions. These statistics increased the sense of urgency and inflamed the dread of parents, children, and others concerned with child safety. By the s, careful analysis by the Justice Department distinguished among these dangers to children, emphasizing the much smaller number of stranger abductions.

By then, however, child abduction had become a fixture of popular culture as posters, Advo cards, billboards, movies, books and magazine articles, television programs, and various other forms of media attention had made child abduction and fears about "Stranger Danger" into a national obsession.

The ordeal of Elizabeth Smart, for example, quickly became a book, a made-for-TV movie, and fodder for multiple magazine covers. The fears rapidly altered child rearing patterns. By the s, parents began to register their distrust of institutions that had developed to supplement the parental supervision of children—such as teachers at child care centers, baby sitters, sports coaches, Boy Scout leaders, and even Santa Claus—as the panic about child sexual abuse spread.

Increasingly, whenever they could do so, parents kept their children under tight supervision, walking or driving them to school, and restricting a once more casual attitude toward informal play. Kidnapping was the most extreme of the many dangers that parents feared. As the sexual abuse of children seemed to have become rampant, or at least as its social existence became more generally acknowledged, child kidnapping became a symbolic expression of these concerns and a growing distrust of strangers.

States and communities throughout the country instituted new laws in response. Named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka, raped and killed by a neighbor who lured her into his house to play with his puppy, Megan's Laws became part of the repertoire of police departments and community vigilance.

These laws required sexual offenders to be listed on registries available to everyone in the community. Other new laws targeted "pedophiles" adults sexually interested in children who were now assumed rightly or wrongly to be responsible for almost all stranger kidnappings. These included limits on where those convicted of sexual offenses against children could live, the institution of longer prison sentences, supervision with electronic devices, and institutionalization even after prison terms had been fully served.

All of these were responses to the perception and evidence that pedophiles could not be reformed or cured. When Jaycee Lee Dugard was found to be living quietly in a makeshift structure in the backyard of her abductors' house in Antioch, California in late August , part of the public's outrage resulted from the fact that Phillip Garrido was a registered sex offender on federal parole.

Despite the many regulations and required registrations now in place, and the fact that he had lived in this house for years, Garrido's crime had gone undetected by any of the many policing agencies who could have discovered Jaycee's presence. Jaycee's return exposed once again how insecure American children appeared to be even in the most rigorous and seemingly stringent legal environments that now defined the landscape. Another surprising and worrisome feature of the Jaycee Dugard case was that Jaycee had been abducted, hidden, and apparently abused with the compliance or active participation of Nancy Garrido, Phillip's wife.

The same had been true for Elizabeth Smart. But Americans should not be surprised that women can participate in child kidnappings. Throughout the twentieth century, women have been caught stealing children usually infants they hoped to raise as their own. Childless themselves, they are often eager to please their husbands or boyfriends and lead them to believe that they had themselves given birth to the child.

Clearly, the Dugard kidnapping departed from this pattern, but it does point up how our expectations regarding the motives for and perpetrators of kidnapping can frequently be upended. Women can and do kidnap children. This third type of kidnapping is rare, but it has occurred with regularity throughout the century.

It also refutes the assumption that women would not abuse or harm children. Even instances in which children are kidnapped by their mothers demonstrate that women can participate in a crime that can harm both children and their parents. Child kidnapping is deeply implicated in modern life and the complex nature of American experience. It has become an important feature of our culture in the widespread attention that it receives and in the haunting fears that it has created among parents and children.

It has also painfully affected the victims of a wide variety of child disappearances, those committed for ransom, children taken by parents or family members, and those carried out by strangers whose motives are varied and unpredictable. Kidnappings have taken place in many places and times throughout history, and they are part of fairy tales and folk legends.

How we respond to them reflects our beliefs about the value of children, the responsibilities of parents, the nature of sexuality, gender, and law. Americans today are not only the inheritors of traditions and practices surrounding kidnapping that go back to the disappearance of Charley Ross in , but also of a wider human propensity to worry about our children's safety. Over time, our perception of the crime in the United States has changed as we have re-imagined its motives and the harms done to victims.

The crimes too have changed as those seeking publicity have altered their own criminal behavior. Parental kidnappings in particular have increased by leaps and bounds over the twentieth century.

But what has grown most greatly and inexorably in the past century and a half is our alarm and anxiety that our children are more vulnerable than they once were and our sense that parents must somehow protect and defend them ever more vigilantly against the lurking threats of modern life. Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Stanton Foundation.

The victim may be held for ransom or reward. They may be used as a shield or hostage. They might be held as slaves or involuntary servants. The victim may held to be terrorized or to terrorize another. They may be held so a crime can be committed or a government action prevented. Abduction of women, now considered a serious crime throughout the world is probably a survival of one of the most primitive forms of marriage, marriage by capture.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was still in full force among some Slavs. Teutonic and Scandinavian tribes regularly resorted to forcible abduction of women for wives. One example is an incident that took place in the United Kingdom in which a woman kidnapped her own daughter. According to The Sun, "Karen Matthews was jailed for eight years for her part in faking the kidnap of her own daughter in The question we might ask is why would a mother kidnap her own daughter?

What could possibly inspire her to do such a terrible thing? The answer is that she did it for the money. She planned to share the reward money with her accomplice, Michael Donovan, who was a relative. According to the Offender Management Caseload Statistics, the UK recorded about 57 convicted kidnappings cases between In some countries, kidnapping has also affected who occupies top government positions.

The son of the former president of Slovakia was once kidnapped. In August of , Michal Kovac Jr, whose father was president of newly independent Slovakia, was stopped in his car by armed men who handcuffed him, forced him to drink two bottles of whisky, and then drove him to an unknown destination The Economist, It is sometimes said that corruption can lead to kidnapping.

Somalia, which is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, unfortunately has quite a bit of experience with this problem. On May 3, , a German nurse named Sonja Nientiet was kidnapped there. The high unemployment rate in many countries has forced citizens to find other ways to make money—and some of those ways are illegal. Kidnapping a rich person can be a lucrative business.

A cash-strapped unemployed person may believe that when he kidnaps someone who is rich, he may be able to become rich himself. Poverty can propel people toward crime as a way to make ends meet. Sometimes, a person who is poor might believe that kidnapping or other illegal acts could provide the necessary money to start a new life—a life that will no longer involve crime. Illiteracy is the inability to read or write. When people know how to read and write, they can gain the skills they need in order to become educated, get a job, and live a productive life.

Literacy and education can also be an important foundation upon which to build a deeper understanding of moral judgment and decision making. The kidnappings and bombings perpetrated by Boko Haram, the militant Islamic group in Nigeria, are caused by illiteracy, at least in part.

The leaders of this group feed their men false information, which the men cannot disprove by reading outside sources. Boko Haram fighters engage in suicide bombings, killings, and kidnappings. They are told that if they die while carrying out their mission, they will inherit the kingdom. Many kidnappings in the world today have their root cause in religion.

Some people love their religion so much that even when it teaches them something that is wrong, they believe it is right. One religious leader may want to take over another group—and order his men to kidnap his rivals. Some people are not contented with what they have and wish they could buy more and more things—whether it's fancy clothes, cars, houses, or jewelry.

This kind of persons may turn to crime to make more money. A wicked businessman can kidnap his business rival for a large ransom to become richer. Corrupt politicians may arrange for the kidnapping of their opponents. Sometimes, they do this so that their opponents will make concessions or change their votes on the issues. A society where corruption is rife is likely to experience a high level of kidnapping. The truth is that if a government is corrupt and embezzling public funds, citizens may react by kidnapping those corrupt politicians in an attempt to recoup some of the stolen money.

Kidnappers sometimes choose to torture their victims so that they can force money out of their relatives or associates. Sometimes, they may even torture for fun. One form of torture is rape. The negative psychological effects of being abducted are huge, especially for a child. Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress syndrome PTSD may last a lifetime.

In a society where the incidence of kidnapping is high, fear limits people's lives and actions. They will always move with caution as they do not know who might be the next target. The rich surround themselves with security guards because of their fear of getting kidnapped. Any country that wants to fight kidnapping successfully must hire and train capable agents to combat the issue.

When law enforcement agencies are actively involved, the incidence of this crime can be lessened. Reports show that the police are involved in some kidnappings. Notable examples have occurred in Mexico. Eliminating the criminals within the ranks of law enforcement is key. Mild punishment does nothing to deter criminals. When the government treats kidnappers harshly, fewer abductions will occur. Generating jobs for citizens, especially for the youth, can have a huge impact in the fight against crime.

When people are gainfully employed, they do not need to commit crimes. Kidnapping has caused disorder in societies today. Kidnapping is a global problem with many root causes, including unemployment, poverty, religion, and politics.

Each of these root causes must be evaluated and addressed in order to eliminate this terrible scourge once and for all.