11 Del. C. § 783A

This is the official text of 11 Del. C. § 783A, part of Delaware’s Del. C — part of the compiled statutory law of Delaware, published by the state as "Del. C." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ Â 783A. Kidnapping in the first degree; class B felony.

Official statutory text

A person is guilty of kidnapping in the first degree when the person unlawfully restrains another person with any of the following purposes:

(1) To hold the victim for ransom or reward; or

(2) To use the victim as a shield or hostage; or

(3) To facilitate the commission of any felony or flight thereafter; or

(4) To inflict physical injury upon the victim, or to violate or abuse the victim sexually; or

(5) To terrorize the victim or a third person; or

(6) To take or entice any child less than 18 years of age from the custody of the child’s parent, guardian or lawful custodian;

and the actor does not voluntarily release the victim alive, unharmed and in a safe place prior to trial.

Kidnapping in the first degree is a class B felony.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.