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The Crime of Kidnapping for Ransom is an extremely serious offence in the nation’s criminal system, however extreme differences exist between theory and practice in the perception of the constitutive requirements of the crime of kidnapping for ransom. Thus, this paper attempts to once again deconstruct the necessary constitutive requirements of the crime of kidnapping for ransom based on the nature of the crime itself, as well as the systematic starting point of the crime according to criminal law, while at the same time making reference to historical legislative origins and legislative cases in Germany and Japan, combined with constitutional interpretations. According to this paper, the cause of controversy regarding the crime of kidnapping for ransom is considered to be the oversimplified and brief legal text detailing the crime as, “those who intentionally hold somebody to ransom and kidnap people”. This means that making a differentiation with the crime of robbery is difficult in practice during a trial. Therefore, this paper believes that the crime of kidnapping for ransom should be composed of three aspects that are impartial constitutive requirements. Not only is it necessary to have exhibited behavior of “kidnapping people”, it is also necessary to have exhibited “ransoming” behavior. At the same time, the “ransomed individual” must be restricted to “a third party other than the kidnapped individual”. Only by interpreting the constitutive requirements for the crime of kidnapping for ransom in such a way can we clearly differentiate this crime from the crime of robbery, as well as solve various controversies with regards to theory and practical application of the law. Finally, the crime of kidnapping for ransom was amended by the Legislative Yuan on June 18, 2014, but the amended portion was only a deletion of the statutory “death penalty” from the judgments. Regretfully no changes were made to the provisions of constitutive requirements. To provide a source of reference for future amendments by legislators, as well as to eliminate entirely any controversy between theory and practice, this paper suggests an amended draft to read, “Any person who’s intended aim is the unlawful gain for oneself or a third person, who engages in the act of ransoming a third person in order to make the third person dispose of assets after a kidnapping takes place shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or an imprisonment term of seven years or longer”.
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