Kidnap for Ransom

Wright, Richard P.

doi:10.1201/9781420080087

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Even worse was trying to do my private business while blindfolded, with someone standing over me, and having to beg them for toilet paper. This was absolutely the worst aspect of the whole experience for me” (Wright 2009, 49, emphasis added).…”

Section: The Politics Of Criminal Victimization: a Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Criminal Victimization: Pursuing and Resisting Power

Moncada¹

2019

Perspect. polit.

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The conventional approach to criminal victimization views it as a traumatic but one-time act. This overlooks a layer of contentious and dynamic politics between victims and criminal actors that we have yet to analyze. I develop a new theoretical framework to analyze the strategic behaviors that victims and criminal actors use to pursue and resist power as part of the political process of criminal victimization. The framework enables us to better observe, conceptualize, and theorize how victims exercise agency vis-à-vis their criminal perpetrators, as well as behaviors and practices that criminal actors undertake to carry out and sustain victimization, but which are overlooked by the traditional focus on their use and threat of coercive force. I illustrate the framework’s analytic utility with an empirical analysis of the victimization of informal street vendors in a major Latin American city under a criminal protection racket. The argument and empirical findings suggest ways to expand and deepen the research agenda on the politics of criminal victimization.

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Section: The Politics Of Criminal Victimization: a Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Criminal Victimization: Pursuing and Resisting Power

Moncada¹

2019

Perspect. polit.

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“…The literature suggests that kidnappers can be distinguished by criminal or radical ideology (Auerbach, 1998; Bolz et al, 2002; Clutterbuck, 1978; Marongiu & Clarke, 2008; Ugarte, 2008; Van Zandt, 1993; Wright, 2009). In addition, Phillips (2009) indicates that kidnappers can also be differentiated according to their level of organization and ability to kidnap and hold multiple hostages on different occasions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These instances are often thought to be irrational forms of behavior. In fact, few have ever acknowledged this possibility, while those who have suggested that homicide after payment is often a calculated move to protect the identity of the kidnappers (Marongiu & Clarke, 2008; Wright, 2009). Regardless, the general view is that kidnapping for ransom is likely a logical process.…”

Section: The Rationality Of Homicide In Kidnappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the dynamics of communication during a kidnapping for ransom are likely to differ from typical criminal interactions. Logically, in kidnapping offenders must assert their credibility to carry through with a threat (see Webster, 2007; Wright, 2009), therefore failure to do so may result in an emotional outburst. Conceivably, the hostage is killed because of a failure of the offender to assert their credibility during this form of “ character contest ,” leading to an emotional outburst.…”

Section: Violent Design Of Kidnapping For Ransommentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There seems a sense of inevitability that a hostage is murdered when a ransom has not been agreed or paid to kidnappers. In fact, a review of the literature suggests that hostages held for ransom are killed because of the inability to pay a ransom demand (Auerbach, 1998; Bolz, Dudonis, & Schulz, 2002; Fulginiti, 2008; Tzanelli, 2006; Wright, 2009). However, it is conceivable that hostages are murdered for reasons other than a lack of payment.…”

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confidence: 99%

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How Do Kidnappers Kill Hostages? A Comparison of Terrorist and Criminal Groups

Phillips

2014

Homicide Studies

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This study explores how hostages are murdered during a kidnapping for ransom. A multi-dimensional scaling procedure was used to explore the homicidal behavior of kidnappers. Three styles of homicide, labeled as execution, manual, and slaughter, were identified. Each varied in the degree of expressive/instrumental aggression and planned or spontaneous violence. Classification of the sample data found that 46.4% of kidnapping homicides were characterized by instrumental violence labeled as execution style, whereas 42.9% were characterized by hostile violence that was spontaneous and less reliant on using a weapon (manual style). These observations related to the type of group conducting the kidnapping for ransom.

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