Kidnapping

According to the Wisconsin Statutes, kidnapping another person and keeping that person against their wishes is a Class B felony if the victim fails to be released unscathed before the first witness is sworn in at the trial. If the victim is released without harm then it is a Class C felony.

Wisconsin law states that kidnapping is the act of taking and carrying away another person using violence or threat of imminent violence with disregard to that person´s consent or by tricking that person into going from one place to another with the intention of confining, imprisoning, or carrying them out of this state, or holding them to service against their will. The person being kidnapped only has to move from one place to another, it could even be in the same building, and secretly held. Confinement is the deliberate, illegal, and uncontested restraint by one person on the physical freedom of another person. Kidnapping is a crime regardless of whether or not ransom is demanded. If ransom is demanded then the kidnapper faces a Class B felony, if no ransom is demanded then the kidnapper faces a Class C felony.

A ransom need not be money, but any form of property including an act or a failure to act.

Taking Hostages:
According to Wisconsin law any person who by use of violence or imminent violence takes, confines, or holds a person without that person´s consent and with intention to use that person as a hostage for the purpose of manipulating that person to perform or not perform some action requested by the person taking the hostage faces the penalties of a Class B felony. If all hostages were let go prior to the hostage takers arrest, then they would face a Class C felony.

State or Federal Kidnapping Charges:
Kidnapping is a crime that can be charged as either state or federal. If a person happens to be convicted on a state kidnapping charge, the offender would serve time in a Wisconsin state prison. If they were convicted of a federal offense, the imprisonment would be in a federal penitentiary.