Ransom Payment

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dimpy.handa

Dimpy Handa
Bluntly, the payment of ransom is exactly what the criminal in question wants. It aids them financially, and brings a swift conclusion to a risky situation. Both of these factors greatly decrease the chances of their detection and capture.
Do you think the payment of ransom be considered a criminal offence?
 
The payment of ransom may also be exactly what the payee wants too. It avoids the potential for violent confrontation, as well as the trauma of a protracted siege or negotiated situation. They may also reasonably imagine that keeping on the good side of the captor will increase the safety of the kidnap victim. Given that they too are a victim of a serious crime, it hardly seems just to prosecute them for attempting to peacefully extricate themselves from the situation.
 
Firstly, the very first demand of kidnappers is that the ransom payee does not contact the police, often at risk of the life of the kidnap victim. Once more, it seems cruel to demand that individuals take this significant risk. Secondly, ransom cases often occur precisely because there is a low chance of detection, or due to the untrustworthiness of local police and security forces. It may be preferable for ransom victims to contact the police, but this is best achieved not by coercion, but by making the police a genuine and trustworthy asset in such cases.
 
In situations where police forces are inadequate, it is even worse to incentivise ransom further by giving kidnappers virtual certainty of payment (as is the status quo in many areas). It is this combination which underlies the epidemic nature of ransom in some parts of the world. At least if payments were criminalised, potential kidnappers would know that a pay-off would be less likely, and thus some would decide it was not worth the risk. This would allow police forces to concentrate resources on the remaining cases where kidnappers are more determined. Police forces would be in no position to concentrate resources once ransom payments are criminalised, for if this law is to be anything other than dead-letter, they would have to take rigorous steps to monitor and investigate victims of ransom demands to ensure they did not make payments. This would be a highly damaging distraction in a situation where the full focus and resources of the police are needed elsewhere. Further, the knowledge that they would be under scrutiny would likely deter many victims of ransom demands from contacting the police in the first place. This may make sometimes situations even more dangerous for victims of ransom.
 
Police forces would be in no position to concentrate resources once ransom payments are criminalised, for if this law is to be anything other than dead-letter, they would have to take rigorous steps to monitor and investigate victims of ransom demands to ensure they did not make payments. This would be a highly damaging distraction in a situation where the full focus and resources of the police are needed elsewhere. Further, the knowledge that they would be under scrutiny would likely deter many victims of ransom demands from contacting the police in the first place
 
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