Also known as: man-stealing · kidnapping · abduction
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A historical offense consisting of the forcible abduction and transportation of a person from one country to another.
Mason McCarthy and an accomplice abduct Maurice Marshall from a harbor warehouse and lock him in a watertight hold while they stage a theft. When flooding occurs during the staged emergency, Marshall drowns. The manstealing supplies the extreme indifference required for murder.
Melanie Morris directs associates to sedate Madison Meyers in her hotel and drive her across the state line. The associates confine Meyers for questioning at a remote facility. Because the movement stays within one country, the conduct fails to meet the elements of manstealing.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Musa Mensah is seized at gunpoint and forced into a vehicle for transport across the border. Mensah draws a firearm and shoots the abductor, believing deadly force is necessary to avoid the manstealing. The justification defense is available because the threat involves manstealing.
Mohan Malhotra forces Mercury Industries' executive into a van and drives her a substantial distance to an isolated cabin. He confines her there for three days to extract trade secrets. The removal and confinement for a prohibited purpose constitute manstealing under the statute.
Momentum Capital's security chief compels an employee to submit to intercourse by threatening to abduct and transport her across the border. The threat of manstealing supplies the force element required for the rape charge.
Meridian Motors' employee is seized and bound for transport out of the country. The employee breaks free, grabs a weapon, and shoots the abductor at close range. The response is evaluated under self-defense standards because the initial conduct was manstealing.
Common law manstealing requires forcible abduction followed by transportation from one country into another. False imprisonment requires only unlawful confinement without valid consent. The international transportation element is essential to manstealing but unnecessary for false imprisonment.
Yes. The Model Penal Code requires that the unlawful removal or confinement be done with one of several listed purposes, such as holding for ransom or facilitating a felony. Without such a purpose the conduct may constitute false imprisonment but not kidnapping.
Manstealing creates a presumption of recklessness manifesting extreme indifference to human life. A death occurring during the commission of manstealing is therefore murder even if the actor did not intend to kill.
Yes. The Model Penal Code expressly includes threat of kidnapping among the means by which a male may compel submission by force for purposes of rape.
…and the officers testified to the prior oral confession made by Miranda during the interrogation. Miranda was found guilty of kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced to 20 to 30 years' imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run concurrently. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Arizona held that Miranda's constitutional…