720 ILCS 5/10-1 – Kidnapping
This law explains what counts as kidnapping and the punishment for it.
A person commits kidnapping if they take or keep another person against their will, whether by force, threat, or by tricking them, while keeping it secret. Kidnapping is a Class 2 felony, meaning it is a serious crime with possible prison time.
(a) A person kidnaps someone when they knowingly do any of these things:
- Secretly keep another person in a place where that person does not want to stay.
- Use force or threats to move someone from one place to another with the plan to secretly keep them against their will.
- Trick or lure someone into going somewhere with the plan to secretly keep them against their will.
(b) If the person taken is a child under 13 years old or someone with a severe intellectual disability, and their parent or guardian did not agree to it, the law sees it as being against that person’s will.
(c) The punishment for kidnapping is a Class 2 felony, which means it has a penalty of 3-7 years in prison.
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