VIDEO: Defining State Laws Regarding Kidnapping

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI)- Within the past few weeks there have been a number of reported kidnapping cases in North Mississippi.

A big reason for that can be attributed to the way the law is written.

The way the State law defined, kidnapping is no longer considered as just physically abducting someone, it also defines it as confining someone against their will.

“Pretty serious crime to take someone against their will,” said Aberdeen Police Chief Henry Randle.

Chief Randle said thankfully he hasn’t had to work many kidnapping cases, but he admits, it’s a dangerous crime that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“Anytime you force someone against their will and you know that you are forcing them against their will, it’s pretty much self-explanatory,” said Randle. “A person trying to leave and you keeping them locked in, you keeping them locked in a room, you keeping them locked in a house, you keeping them bound with chains or tape or anything, that’s forcing a person against their own will.”

Both adults and children can be victims of kidnapping.

“Nine times out of 10, when there is a kidnapping involving an adult it’s going to be for a monetary value, or it’s going to be for a value that, like I said, someone is into it with someone and they just want to be cruel and take them away,” the police chief said. “They don’t understand that once you hold somebody against their will, you are actually breaking the law.”

Chief Randle said people will often confuse a missing person’s report as kidnapping, but there’s a difference.

“We determine a missing person by 24 hours,” Randle explained. “Kidnapping is going to go for a long period of time, because that person is either bargained for a reason, or that person is being held against their will and they can’t make a phone call. They can’t talk to anyone such as their loved ones to try and come and get them.”

Randle also acknowledged that many times the unlawful act doesn’t have a good ending.

“Kidnapping, it just really never turns out to be to the advantage of the family or law enforcement,” Randle described. “Sometimes you will find them in the woods, sometimes you will find them in different states, it’s just a variety of things that can happen.”

If a person is convicted on a kidnapping charge, they can face a life sentence behind prison bars.