Editing Hostage (section)

== Legality of hostage-taking ==
{{Globalize|section|USA|2name=the United States|date=March 2011|talk=Talk:Hostage#Globalize}}
Taking hostages in modern terms is considered a [[crime]] or an act of [[terrorism]]; the use of the word in this sense of [[Kidnapping|abductee]] became current only in the 1970s. The criminal activity is known as [[kidnapping]]. An acute situation where hostages are kept in a building or a vehicle that has been taken over by armed terrorists or common criminals is often called a hostage crisis.

Common Article 3 of the [[Geneva Convention|1949 Geneva Conventions]] states that the taking of hostages during an [[civil war|internal conflict]] is a [[war crime]] and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever. In international conflicts, Articles 34 and 147 of the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]] state that using [[protected persons|protected]] civilians as hostages is a grave breach of the convention. These conventions are supplemented by Article 75(2)(c) of [[Protocol I|Additional Protocol I]] in international conflicts and Article 4(2)(c) of [[Protocol II|Additional Protocol II]] in internal conflicts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/print/v2_rul_rule96 |title=Practice Relating to Rule 96. Hostage-Taking |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]}}</ref>

The [[International Convention against the Taking of Hostages]]—which prohibits hostage-taking and mandates the punishment of hostage-takers—was adopted by the [[United Nations General Assembly]] in 1979. The treaty came into force in 1983 and has been ratified by all but 24 of the [[member states of the United Nations]].

Hostage-taking is still often politically motivated or intended to raise a [[ransom]] or to enforce an exchange against other hostages or even condemned convicts. However, in some countries hostage-taking for profit has become an "industry", ransom often being the only demand.

=== Hostage taking within diplomacy ===
{{see also|Hostage diplomacy}}

=== Hostage-taking in the United States ===

==== Hostage Taking Act ====
The United States makes hostage-taking a federal criminal offense pursuant to {{usc|18|1203}}. Generally, the Act applies to conduct occurring within the territory of the United States. However, under Subsection B, an offender may be indicted under the Act even if the hostage-taking occurred outside the territory of the United States if the "offender or the person seized or detained is a national of the United States; the offender is found in the United States; or the governmental organization sought to be compelled is the Government of the United States."<ref>{{usc|18|1203}} (b)(1)(A)-(C)</ref> These provisions are consistent with the fundamental principles of international criminal law, specifically active nationality principle, universal principle, and the effects principle, respectively.<ref>Beth Van Schaack & Ronald C. Slye, International Criminal Law and Its Enforcement: Cases and Materials (2007);</ref>

====18 USC 1203: Hostage Taking Act====
[[File:Hostage Rescue Team members.jpg|thumb|[[Hostage Rescue Team]] agents]]
[[Title 18 of the United States Code]] criminalizes hostage-taking under "18 USC 1203: Hostage Taking Act", which reads:
{{Blockquote|(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure, or to continue to detain another person in order to compel a third person or a governmental organization to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the person detained, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life and, if the death of any person results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.

(b)(1) It is not an offense under this section if the conduct required for the offense occurred outside the United States unless—
::(A) the offender or the person seized or detained is a national of the United States;
::(B) the offender is found in the United States; or
::(C) the governmental organization sought to be compelled is the Government of the United States.

:(2) It is not an offense under this section if the conduct required for the offense occurred inside the United States, each alleged offender and each person seized or detained are nationals of the United States, and each alleged offender is found in the United States, unless the governmental organization sought to be compelled is the Government of the United States.

(c) As used in this section, the term "national of the United States" has the meaning given such term in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ({{usc|8|1101}} (a)(22)).<ref name="Cornell University">[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1203- Cornell University]</ref>}}

The Hostage Taking Act is a subsection of the [[International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages]]. It became enforceable in the United States January 6, 1985.<ref name="Cornell University">[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1203- Cornell University]</ref>