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Carjacking
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is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the sixties, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction, which did not often include kidnapping of the driver. During the later day car theft crime, typically, the carjacker is armed, and the driver is forced out of the car with the threat of bodily injury.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the sixties, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction, which did not often include kidnapping of the driver. During the later day car theft crime, typically, the carjacker is armed, and the driver is forced out of the car with the threat of bodily injury. In other rarer cases, the driver is kidnapped under the assault by a weapon and is retained as a passenger under duress, or made to drive his or her abductor. Women are particularly victimized in this later method. The word is a portmanteau of car and hijacking.
Discussion
The crime is extremely hazardous, threatening the physical safety of both the carjacker and the victim. To secure the car, the carjacker may sometimes shoot the victim or physically push/pull the victim out of the driver's seat to force him or her out of the car.
Carjackings in the world
South Africa
Carjacking is a significant problem in South Africa, where it is called hijacking; there are some roadsigns warning people that certain areas are hotspots. There were 16,000 carjackings in one year (18 times the American rate per capita), and 60 murders a year resulting from these.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, several new, unconventional anti-carjacking systems designed to harm the attacker were developed and marketed in South Africa, where carjacking had become such a serious problem that they faced little resistance from local police and judiciary bodies. Among these was the now defunct Blaster, a small flame thrower that could be mounted to the underside of a vehicle.
Sweden
Carjackings became more common in Sweden where it most appeared in places like Gothenburg and Stockholm around 2001-2002.
United Kingdom
English law has three levels of offense under the Theft Act 1968, each pertaining to the mens rea (Latin for "guilty mind") and the degree of violence used. The least serious is TWOC, which covers any unauthorized taking of a "conveyance", s1 theft applies when the carjacker intends to permanently deprive the owner of property, and violent carjacking is an aggravated form of theft under §8 robbery. Amid increasing carjacking cases in the UK, there has been some discussion whether specific carjacking laws are necessary. The current view is that all aspects of the offense are covered in the law, whether as road traffic offenses, public order offenses, the use of weapons and firearms, etc., and there is no benefit in consolidating all the elements in one offense.
United States
In the United States, a law was passed in 1992 making carjacking a federal crime. This occurred amidst great media attention into the apparent spate of carjacking thefts, several of which resulted in homicide. One of these was the notorious September 1992 carjacking of Pam Basu in Savage, Maryland. Basu was carjacked at a stop sign in her subdivision as she left home to take her daughter to pre-school; she was entangled in her seatbelt and then dragged to death. Libertarians and states' rights activists criticized this law, arguing that the control of crime is a matter for the states, not the federal government, and asserted that carjacking was made a federal crime only to make some incumbents appear tough on crime to gain votes.
The United States Department of Justice estimates that in about half of all carjacking attempts, the attacker succeeds in stealing the victim's car. It estimated that, between 1987 and 1992, about 35,000 carjacking attempts took place per year, and, between 1992 and 1996, about 49,000 attempts took place per year.
The US state of Louisiana includes defending oneself against forcible entry of one's home and motor vehicle as part it's definition of justifiable homicide.
History
The first known carjacking took place on the open road in March 1912. The Bonnot Gang targeted a luxury Dion Bouton in the Senart forest between Paris and Lyon, France. The armed chauffeur and young secretary in the vehicle were killed.
Carjacking in popular culture
- In The Brady Bunch Movie a carjacker attempts to take Greg's car but is unsuccessful because of the vacant naivete of Greg and Marcia Brady who with their cheerful ignorance to what is actually going on perplex the carjacker unintentionally.
- The South African movie Tsotsi features a carjacking as the main plot element.
- Larry Niven's short story "The Deadlier Weapon" features a carjacking.
- Crash is based on a real carjacking.
- In the television series 7th Heaven, Matt Camden and Annie Camden have an electrical problem in their car and have to pull over. A man confronts them at gunpoint and takes Annie's wedding ring, the keys to their house, their money and car.
- In episodes 230 and 231 of the Case Closed (Detective Conan) anime and its corresponding manga files, a bus jacking occurs that involves the main characters and their calculated attempts to overthrow the hijacker and uncover their accomplice.
- In the Death Note anime, manga, and film, a busjacking is a crucial plot point. Several real busjacking incidents have taken place in Japan.
- Hijack Stories (2000 film) is a film about South African township crime, of which the main theme is carjacking. One of the main characters robs 10 cars and parks them in front of a police station.
See also
External links
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