What is Second Degree Kidnapping?

• Second Degree Kidnapping is when a person knowingly takes another person from one place to another without their consent, and the taking increases the risk of harm to them.

• Second Degree Kidnapping can also be charged if a person takes or lures a child under 18 years of age with the intent to keep the child or hide them from their parent or guardian, with the added intent to sell, trade, or barter the child.

• Second Degree Kidnapping is a Class 2 Felony, if the person taken is the victim of a sexual offense, the victim was kidnapped during a robbery, or the person kidnapped was a child under 18 years of age. If charged as a Class 2 Felony, the charge carries a penalty of up to 24 years in the Department of Corrections, and a fine of up to $1,000,000.

• Second Degree Kidnapping is a Class 3 Felony, if the person taken was intended to be sold, traded, or bartered, which carries a penalty of up to 16 years in the Department of Corrections, and a fine of up to $750,000.

• Second Degree Kidnapping is a Class 4 Felony if there are no aggravating factors, and the person taken is returned unharmed. This charge carries a penalty of up to 8 years in the Department of Corrections, and a fine of up to $500,000.

C.R.S. 18-3-302 - Second Degree Kidnapping

(1) A person who knowingly seizes and carries a person from one place to another, without the person’s consent and without lawful justification, and such movement increases the risk of harm to the person, commits second degree kidnapping.

(2) Any person who takes, entices, or decoys away any child not his own under the age of eighteen years with intent to keep or conceal the child from his parent or guardian or with intent to sell, trade, or barter such child for consideration commits second degree kidnapping.

(3) Second degree kidnapping is a class 2 felony if any of the following circumstances exist:

(a) The person kidnapped is a victim of a sexual offense pursuant to part 4 of this article 3;

(b) The person kidnapped is a victim of a robbery; or

(c) The kidnapping was a violation of subsection (2) of this section.

(4)

(a) Unless it is a class 2 felony under subsection (3) of this section, second degree kidnapping is a class 3 felony if any of the following circumstances exist:

(I) The kidnapping is accomplished with intent to sell, trade, or barter the victim for consideration; or

(II) The kidnapping is accomplished by the use of a deadly weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly weapon; or

(III) The kidnapping is accomplished by the perpetrator representing verbally or otherwise that he or she is armed with a deadly weapon.

(b) A defendant convicted of second degree kidnapping committed under any of the circumstances set forth in this subsection (4) shall be sentenced by the court in accordance with the provisions of section 18-1.3-406.

(5) Second degree kidnapping is a class 4 felony, except as provided in subsections (3) and (4) of this section.