Partner Kidnapping and Hostage-Taking -- Bride Abduction -- Family Abduction in the United States -- International Family-Child Abduction -- Non-Family Juvenile Abduction -- Responses to Abducted Children -- Infant Abduction -- Kidnapping by Cesarean Section and State-Sponsored Abduction of Newborns -- Human Trafficking -- Ransom Kidnapping -- Kidnapping: Carjacking and Related Crimes -- Aircraft Hijacking -- Maritime Piracy and Kidnapping -- Kidnapping Hoaxes.

This book analyzes kidnapping in various forms and from various perspectives. First it argues that kidnapping, including the threat of kidnapping, reflects a breakdown in the mechanisms of social control in society. This volume also discusses the ways governments and para-military and terrorist groups employ kidnappings as part of their foreign and domestic policy. This analysis evaluates why and under what conditions governments, para-military and terrorist groups decide to abduct individuals and groups. It emphasizes how individuals, groups, and governments employ abductions to achieve their psychological, social, religious, and political objectives. This analysis also examines the ways in which cultural traditions in different societies emerge to foster behaviors such as bride abductions. Moreover, this book addresses the extent to which social change modifies these cultural patterns. Suitable for students and researchers, mental health practitioners, and law enforcement, this volume is a unique analysis of our contemporary understanding of kidnapping and violence, and the social, psychological, political, and cultural motivations for such an act.