unlawful imprisonment
US term for unlawfully confining a person or restricting their freedom of movement
Unlawful imprisonment is a term in US law for unlawful deprivation of liberty: confining a person or restricting their freedom of movement without legal authority. Criminal law in the United States is primarily a matter for the individual states, and several states have unlawful imprisonment as a separate offence, while others use designations such as false imprisonment or unlawful restraint. In more serious cases the conduct may be classified as kidnapping.
In Arizona, the offence is defined in the Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-1303: a person commits unlawful imprisonment by knowingly restraining another person. It is in principle a class 6 felony — the least serious category of felonies in Arizona — but only a class 1 misdemeanour if the perpetrator voluntarily releases the victim, unharmed and in a safe place, before arrest.
The term appears in coverage of the case against Samuel Bateman, the leader of a polygamous breakaway group in Arizona who was convicted of abuse of children. The precise legal classification always depends on the factual circumstances of the individual case: duration, the force used, the age of the victims, and whether transport across state lines is involved, which can trigger the stricter federal kidnapping provisions in 18 U.S.C. § 1201.
