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Kidnapping Laws in St. Louis and Missouri
Missouri's kidnapping statutes are some of the most comprehensive in the United States, and can be found beginning here with Missouri Revised Statute §565.110.
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The degrees of kidnapping in Missouri are as follows:
- First degree kidnapping is when a person is "unlawfully removed without their consent" for the purpose of extracting a ransom or reward, using them as a hostage, interfering with a political/governmental function, facilitating a felony or flight from justice, or inflicting physical injury. This is always a class A felony, punishable by 10-30 years in prison.
- Second degree kidnapping is defined as "knowingly restraining another person, unlawfully and without consent, so as to interfere substantially with their liberty and expose them to a substantial risk of serious physical injury". This is a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
- Third degree kidnapping uses the same definition as second degree kidnapping, except without the line regarding exposure to physical injury. This is a class A misdemeanor (which has a sentencing recommendation of up to a year in city/county jail or a $2,000 fine) unless the person being restrained is taken outside Missouri state lines: then it becomes a class E felony (carrying a recommended sentence of up to four years in prison).
Missouri law also has special provisions for child kidnapping when the plaintiff is not a relative of the child they allegedly kidnapped (a class A felony), plus a special section (Missouri Revised Statute §565.153) that deals with "parental kidnapping". This is when someone who has the right to custody of a child "entices" the child away from someone else who also has the right to custody of that child, either within Missouri state lines or to another state, when a court order determining custody has not been made. Like child abduction (which in Missouri deals more with disputes that occur after custody/visitation rights arrangements have been made), this is a class E felony, but unlike child abduction, if the child is kept away from its legal guardian for longer periods of time, the charges can be upgraded.
Kidnapping statutes in Missouri are also unique in that they specifically outline a number of potential defenses against certain kidnapping charges. These defenses relate to kidnapping in the third degree (see here) and parental kidnapping/child abduction (viewable here).
