(a)Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, steals or takes, or holds, detains, or arrests any person in this state, and carries the person into another country, state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty of kidnapping.
(b)Every person, who for the purpose of committing any act defined in Section 288, hires, persuades, entices, decoys, or seduces by false promises, misrepresentations, or the like, any child under the age of 14 years to go out of this country, state, or county, or into another part of the same county, is guilty of kidnapping.
(c)Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, takes or holds, detains, or arrests any person, with a design to take the person out of this state, without having established a claim, according to the laws of the United States, or of this state, or who hires, persuades, entices, decoys, or seduces by false promises, misrepresentations, or the like, any person to go out of this state, or to be taken or removed therefrom, for the purpose and with the intent to sell that person into slavery or involuntary servitude, or otherwise to employ that person for his or her own use, or to the use of another, without the free will and consent of that persuaded person, is guilty of kidnapping.
(d)Every person who, being out of this state, abducts or takes by force or fraud any person contrary to the law of the place where that act is committed, and brings, sends, or conveys that person within the limits of this state, and is afterwards found within the limits thereof, is guilty of kidnapping.
(e)For purposes of those types of kidnapping requiring force, the amount of force required to kidnap an unresisting infant or child is the amount of physical force required to take and carry the child away a substantial distance for an illegal purpose or with an illegal intent.
(f)Subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive, do not apply to any of the following:
(1)To any person who steals, takes, entices away, detains, conceals, or harbors any child under the age of 14 years, if that act is taken to protect the child from danger of imminent harm.
(2)To any person acting under Section 834 or 837.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
434
cases (
81 in the last 5 years), 1943–2026 · leading case:
People v. Rayford, 884 P.2d 1369 (Cal. 1994).
People v. Rayford, 884 P.2d 1369 (Cal. 1994).
· cites it 6× “(d)), is an offense separate from, or an enhancement to, simple kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a)), and to delineate the circumstances under which evidence of asportation is sufficient to support a kidnapping conviction under Penal Code section 208, subdivision (d).”
People v. Mayberry, 542 P.2d 1337 (Cal. 1975).
· cites it 9× “Franklin was charged with *147 kidnaping (Pen. Code, § 207), rape by means of force and threat (Pen.”
People v. Daniels, 176 Cal. App. 4th 304 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009).
· cites it 6× “(b)(1)), kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a)), and sexual battery (Pen.”
People v. Fontenot, 447 P.3d 252 (Cal. 2019).
· cites it 3× “Considering this result inconsistent with legislative purpose, we formulated this general rule: " Penal Code, section 207, as applied to a person forcibly taking and carrying away another, who by reason of immaturity or mental condition is unable to give his legal consent…”
Izazaga v. Superior Court, 815 P.2d 304 (Cal. 1991).
· cites it 4× “The People served on petitioner an informal request for *364 discovery pursuant to newly adopted Penal Code section 1054.5, subdivision (b) (section 1054.”
United States v. Iveth Najera-Mendoza, 683 F.3d 627 (5th Cir. 2012).
· cites it 6× “’” (quoting Cal. Penal Code § 207 (a)), with the elements of Najera-Mendoza’s Oklahoma kidnapping conviction, supra at 4 (“Any person who without lawful authority forcibly seizes and confines another .”
People v. Benson, 802 P.2d 330 (Cal. 1990).
· cites it 3× “The People also sought to prove that on Tuesday, January 7, 1986, the day after he fled from Laura’s shack, defendant kidnapped Karen Stange (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a)), through the use or threat of force or violence.”
In Re Michele D., 59 P.3d 164 (Cal. 2002).
· cites it 3× “Penal Code section 207, subdivision (a) provides: “Every person who forcibly, or by any other means of instilling fear, steals, or takes, or holds, detains, or arrests any person in this state, and carries the person into another country, state, or county, or into another part…”
People v. Castaneda, 254 P.3d 249 (Cal. 2011).
· cites it 2× “Code, §§ 459, 460), one count of kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a)), one count of sodomy by use of force (Pen.”
United States v. Juarez-Galvan, 572 F.3d 1156 (10th Cir. 2009).
· cites it 7× “Juarez-Gal-van was convicted of kidnapping under CaLPenal Code § 207(a) and second-degree robbery under Cal.”
People v. Daniels, 459 P.2d 225 (Cal. 1969).
· cites it 4× “charged with a prior conviction of simple kidnaping (Pen. Code, § 207) and rape (Pen. Code, § 261, subd.”
— Cal. Penal Code § 207(a) — 26 cases
United States v. Juarez-Galvan, 572 F.3d 1156 (10th Cir. 2009).
“Juarez-Gal-van was convicted of kidnapping under CaLPenal Code § 207(a) and second-degree robbery under Cal.”
— Cal. Penal Code § 207(d) — 2 cases
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