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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2007 
High Court Upholds Law on Sentences
 El Universal
| | In this photo released by the Mexican non governmental agency, Citizen Council for Public Safety on Monday Dec. 19, 2005, an unidendified woman is seen inside a trunk of a car, liberated by police after being kidnapped in Mexico in the year 2005. (AP/Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Publica y Justicia Penal A.C.) |
Quickie kidnappings meant to extract an affordable sum of cash in a minimum amount of time can be punished by the same 40-year prison term as traditional kidnappings, the Supreme Court decided Wednesday.
The ruling is intended to help the judicial system keep up with the latest trends in criminal behavior.
The so-called express kidnapping - "secuestro exprés" - has grown increasingly common in Mexico and much of Latin America in recent years.
A 2006 penal code reform in the Federal District (Mexico City) called for equal sentences for express kidnappings as for regular kidnappings.
The law was challenged in February of this year when a man was convicted of express kidnapping in Mexico City and sentenced to 40 years in jail.
The man sought an injunction based on the assertion that the sentence violated Article 22 of the Constitution, which prohibits excessive and disproportionate punishments for crimes.
The court decision released on Wednesday upheld the sentencing law, which calls for a prison term of 20 to 40 years if convicted of express kidnapping.
In a "secuestro exprés," the victim is held for a short period of time - usually a matter of hours or a few days - while the kidnappers demand from his or her family a ransom that can be put together quickly, typically under 50,000 pesos.
The court ruling does not apply to another type of short-term kidnapping sometimes also referred to as "secuestro exprés."
In those kidnappings, the victim is held and forced to withdraw money from his or her back accounts at ATM machines.
This is also known as "secuestro ATM," or an ATM kidnapping. |
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