Kidnapping is generally defined as the taking, holding or detaining another person by the use of force or fear and using that force or fear to move the person a substantial distance and the person moved did not consent to the move.

Substantial distance is movement that is more than a slight or trivial distance.

An individual can also commit a kidnapping if the individual hires, persuades, entices, decoys or seduces by misrepresentation any child under the age of 14 years to go out of the country, state or county when the act is done for the purpose of committing any act defined in California Penal Code Section 288.

Kidnapping is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for three, five, or eight years.

However, if the person kidnapped is under 14 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime, the kidnapping is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 8, or 11 years.

Kidnapping is divided into different levels which can determine the punishment.

An individual who kidnaps another person with the intent to hold or detain the other person for ransom, reward or to commit extortion can be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without possibility of parole when the person taken suffers death or bodily harm or when the person taken is exposed to a substantial likelihood of death.

A person guilty of kidnapping for the purpose of committing robbery, rape, spousal rape, oral copulation, sodomy, or any violation of Section 264.1, 288, or 289, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole.

Kidnapping during the commission of a carjacking is punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole.

In a kidnapping case, if probation is granted, except in unusual cases, the court shall, require as a condition of the probation that the person convicted be confined in the county jail for 12 months.