Child kidnapping
This law is about taking or holding a child under 14 without permission. If someone who is not a close family member (within three family levels, like a parent, grandparent, or uncle) takes a child away or keeps the child somewhere for a long time without the parents' or guardian's okay, that is child kidnapping. There is one exception — if the person truly believed the child was in danger and needed to be protected, that can be used as a defense in court. This is one of the most serious crimes in Missouri.
Classifications stated in the statute. Actual outcomes vary.
565.115. Child kidnapping — . — 1. A person commits the of child kidnapping if he or she is not a relative of the child within the and, knowing he or she has no right to do so, removes a child under the age of fourteen without of the child's parents or , or such child for a substantial period of time without such consent.
2. In determining whether the child was or confined , it is an that the person reasonably believed that the person's actions were necessary to preserve the child from danger to his or her welfare.
3. The offense of child kidnapping is a .
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Source & history notes
(L. 2004 H.B. 1487, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491) Effective 1-01-17
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.