Any person who, without lawful authority and with or without intent to secretly confine, shall forcibly seize and confine any other person, or shall inveigle or kidnap any other person with intent to cause such person to be confined or imprisoned against his or her will, or without lawful authority shall forcibly seize, inveigle or kidnap any vulnerable person as defined in Section 43-47-5 or any child under the age of sixteen (16) years against the will of the parents or guardian or person having the lawful custody of the child, upon conviction, shall be imprisoned for life in the custody of the Department of Corrections if the punishment is so fixed by the jury in its verdict. If the jury fails to agree on fixing the penalty at imprisonment for life, the court shall fix the penalty at not less than one (1) year nor more than thirty (30) years in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
This section shall not be held to repeal, modify or amend any other criminal statute of this state.
Codes, 1942, § 2238; Laws, 1932, ch. 301; Laws, 1974, ch. 576, § 3; Laws, 2004, ch. 365, § 1; Laws, 2011, ch. 341, § 1, eff. 7/1/2011.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
183
cases (
23 in the last 5 years), 1976–2025 · leading case:
Nelson v. State, 10 So. 3d 898 (Miss. 2009).
Nelson v. State, 10 So. 3d 898 (Miss. 2009).
· cites it 40× “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-53 (Rev.2006) (emphasis added).”
Dewayne Graham v. State of Mississippi, 185 So. 3d 992 (Miss. 2016).
· cites it 20× “” Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-53 (Rev. 2014). Graham argues that, other than the punch that Inge gave to the victim, neither party did anything that could be construed as a kidnapping.”
Forrest Thomas, III v. Mississippi Dep't of Corr., 248 So. 3d 786 (Miss. 2018).
· cites it 29× “See Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-53 (Rev. 2014). And no factual basis was established at the plea hearing that Thomas’s particular acts were sexual in nature.”
Abdur Rahim Ambrose v. State of Mississippi, 254 So. 3d 77 (Miss. 2018).
· cites it 8× “Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-53 (Rev. 2014). While Ambrose's indictment for capital murder incorporated Section 97-3-53 by reference, as in Fulgham , it informed Ambrose only of the nature of the accusation, i.”
Conley v. State, 790 So. 2d 773 (Miss. 2001).
· cites it 6× “The statute defining kidnapping, Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-53 (2000), states: Any person who shall without lawful authority forcibly seize and confine any other person, or shall inveigle or kidnap any other person with intent to cause such person to be secretly confined or…”
Perkins v. State, 863 So. 2d 47 (Miss. 2003).
· cites it 17× “Whether Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-53 is unconstitutionally vague and ambiguous in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; III.”
Evans v. State, 725 So. 2d 613 (Miss. 1997).
· cites it 6× “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-53 sets forth the offense of kidnapping.”
Burrell v. State, 183 So. 3d 19 (Miss. 2015).
· cites it 21× “Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-53 (Rev.2014) (emphasis added).”
Hughes v. State, 401 So. 2d 1100 (Miss. 1981).
· cites it 6× “1979), we held a defendant convicted of kidnapping was improperly sentenced to life imprisonment under section 97-3-53 where it was impossible to ascertain from the indictment whether defendant had been indicted under section 97-3-53 or under section 97-3-51 which carried a…”
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