hostage

thumb|Police trainees recovering a hostage during a training exercise

AI overview

A hostage is a person held by someone against their will, typically as leverage to force others to meet demands or comply with conditions. It matters because hostage situations pose serious dangers to the person being held and require careful intervention by law enforcement or negotiators to resolve safely.

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Image: Hostage exercise.jpeg

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Commons category: Hostages
female form of label: заложничка
male form of label: заложник

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~20 min read

Article

14 sections

Contents

Etymology
Legality of hostage-taking
Hostage taking within diplomacy
Hostage-taking in the United States
Hostage Taking Act
18 USC 1203: Hostage Taking Act
Ransom payment strategies
Notable hostages crises
Notable hostages
Pre-1900
1900 - present
See also
References
External links

thumb|Police trainees recovering a hostage during a training exercise

A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, or refrain from acting, in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical harm or death to the hostage(s) after expiration of an ultimatum. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition defines a hostage as "a person who is handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war."