Property and Computer Crimes
Criminal Law
Deborah Jackson
September 20, 2010
Property crimes are the number one reported crimes in the United States. According to the FBI's Uniformed Crime Reporting program (UCR) statics for 2009, there were approximately 9,321,971 property crimes reported with a loss more than 15 billion dollars. (Federal Bureau, 2009) Furthermore, these numbers only represent the non-forceful/violent thefts. Whereas many modern crimes involving kidnapping, false imprisonment, robberies, burglary, theft and cyber-crimes also add up to a portion of the statistics. This is not necessarily a new front for law enforcement, yet it is a difficult one to maintain, as it is an ever-changing venue. Looking at the following, we will examine the depth of it, explaining particular aspects through focused sections.
Kidnapping is a crime in which a person is unlawful taken from the place where he or she is found, against that person’s will, and through the use of force, fraud, threats, or some other form of intimidation. The law of kidnapping is difficult to define with precision because it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most state and federal kidnapping statutes define the term kidnapping vaguely, and courts fill in the details. Under common law kidnapping was only a misdemeanor, but in most states of the United States it is punishable by death or life imprisonment if there are no extenuating circumstances. For example; we have the case of “Bruno Richard Hauptmann 1899-1936, convicted kidnapper and murderer. The infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was abducted (Mar. 1, 1932) at Hopewell, N.J., and a ransom of $50,000 for his release was paid through the intercession of Dr. John F. Condon. The child's battered body was found (May 12, 1932) near Hopewell, and on Sept. 19, 1934, Hauptmann, a carpenter, was found with part of the ransom. In a sensational trial at Flemington, N.J., he was convicted of murder....