Editing Hostage (section)

==Ransom payment strategies==

The United States has had an official policy of "we do not negotiate with terrorists" since the [[Nixon Administration]]. This applies to designated international terrorist groups, but not domestic kidnappers, foreign governments, or international organized crime. The United Kingdom has a similar policy, but many continental European countries, including France and Spain, routinely pay ransom.

The former head of the [[Committee to Protect Journalists]], Joel Simon, found that evidence suggests this policy has reduced the number of Americans who survive kidnapping but has not reduced the number who are kidnapped in the first place. Spain retrieves all of its hostages with a policy of paying ransoms, but in the United States only about one quarter survive. Simon says that terrorists exploit these policy differences by making money from countries who do pay ransom, and using those that do not pay ransom to demonstrate their willingness to kill hostages and thus raise ransom prices and public pressure to pay. In the absence of a universal refusal to pay, which would eliminate any incentive for kidnapping, Simon says the best way to reduce kidnappings and prevent the use of ransom funds to fund other harmful activities is to pay ransom, free the hostages and then use the information gleaned from the negotiation and handoff to destroy the group responsible.<ref>{{cite book |title=We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom |year=2019 |author=Joel Simon |publisher=Columbia Global Reports |isbn=978-0999745427}}</ref>