Kidnapping, Unlawful Detention Is it kidnapping to hide a persons keys and wallet to prevent them from leaving the house?

[annulmentbro]

Jurisdiction

New York

I know a couple where the husband gets violent and aggressive in arguments and tries to prevent the wife from leaving the house until he gets what he wants by stealing and hiding her house-keys or wallet or purse or shoes (or all of the above). Is this a crime? Is this legally kidnapping?

 

[Highwayman]

No, it's not kidnapping - it does not prevent her from leaving the house.

 

[zddoodah]

What you described might be a disincentive to leaving, but I'm at a loss to understand how it might prevent leaving. You can read New York's laws on kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment at this link.

 

[mightymoose]

No it is not kidnapping or false imprisonment. She can still walk, call a can/bus, ride a bike, etc.
It would take a more deliberate act that restricts her freedom of movement to amount to anything significant. Simply inconveniencing her is nothing.
That said, the nature of his violence and aggression toward her could be domestic violence out another related offense. That would depend on the details of the violence you describe.

 

[Highwayman]

It could certainly be considered Harassment which is classified as a Family Offense and result in, at a minimum, a Domestic Incident Report being filed.

 

[Highwayman]

What you described might be a disincentive to leaving, but I'm at a loss to understand how it might prevent leaving. You can read New York's laws on kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment at this link.

No knock on you, Z, but I don't know why folks on these online forums always reference ypdcrime.com. The name seems to imply that it's somehow related to the (City of) Yonkers Police Department but I don't think that it is. I know Google searches tend to point to ypdcrime.com first when searching for New York State laws. I don't really trust it if I don't know where it comes from.

The reliable source for New York State statutes is either a certified copy of the law in question (published by a firm such as Looseleaf Law) or the New York State Assembly website:

Legislative Information - LBDC:


Just FYI

 

[Highwayman]

Not sure why clicking on my link does not produce the desired page. If one goes to www.assembly.state.ny.us then click on "Bill Search and Legislative Info" then click on "Laws" a list of the Consolidated and Unconsolidated Laws of NYS appears.

I copied and pasted that URL and it doesn't seem to work right however.

 

[army judge]

Hard to say what crime is being committed, if any, but it might be long past time to seek the counsel of a divorce attorney.

Why do people linger in relationships or situations where they are beaten, battered, abused, humiliated, slapped, punched, kicked, assaulted, bullied, etc... but worry about a kitten, a lamp, some keys, a wallet, whatever while suffering endless violence?

I'm just another dummy typing on some virtual keyboard.

 

[zddoodah]

No knock on you, Z, but I don't know why folks on these online forums always reference ypdcrime.com.

I will usually provide links to Findlaw or Justia, both of which are reliable sources in my considerable experience. Not sure why I grabbed a different link in this case (by the way, the ypdcrime.com domain name is privately registered, but I saw no indication of any affiliation with the City of Yonkers or its police department). Here's a link to the same article at Justia.