Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
I was hoping it wouldn't affect that much, but my legal knowledge is limited so I wanted to make sure. It seems unlikely that her legal parents would have applied for a SS number in the two days before she was kidnapped, so that wouldn't be an issue. So it sounds like it would just be a matter of correcting some facts and then making whatever decisions she wishes regarding legal name changes. That makes the story much easier to tell as I can focus on the plot and not get bogged down with legal details!
Thanks to everyone who has replied!
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
And as others have stated or implied;
youre the writer. You get to include whatever details you want to include. If you don’t want the character to deal with the legal issues in your story, then don’t include them.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
I usually prefer to do research before I get too in-depth with the related plot point so I have a decent understanding of the subject matter and can write the details that make sense to include when the time comes. Often only about 10% of my research actually comes out on the page, but I think having the other 90% in my brain still makes the story better. Plus, I don't always know which details will be important to include until I actually write it. It's the third book in a police detective series, so completely leaving out legal details would be an oversight, but I tend to focus more on the emotional aspect in my books (whether that's a good thing depends on which reader you ask). The legal information is still important to me regardless of how much makes it into the final book. I just feel like I have a mental block if I can't envision exactly how something is going to work out!
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
The legal information is still important to me regardless of how much makes it into the final book.
Oh, yeah, I definitely get that.
It sounds as if you can pretty much let the story happen the way it wants to happen without too many, if any, irregularities. After all, it's up to you whether or not her birth parents did or did not apply for an SSN, and so on.
I absolutely understand wanting to not only have the backstory in place even if it doesn't make it into the book, but also to having it accurate. But don't let it kill the story, either. Not too long ago I posted a legal question for one of my books here, and when I got no answers I went to a different legal forum where I also post. I explained not only what I was asking but why I wanted it to go the way I did, and one of the lawyers there advised me to take poetic license. He said the situation I was working on could go a number of different ways depending on specifics that I didn't want to get into in the story, and even if what I wanted it to do wasn't absolutely perfectly the way it would actually go down, it wasn't so far off the mark as to get me into trouble either, and I should just write the story without trying too hard to fit the legalities in. That was really good advice and I took it.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
As an avid reader (especially of crime/mystery fiction), this thread fascinates me. (And no, I'm not an aspiring writer who wants to pick your collective brains for pointers, so you can rest easy.) I enjoy a plot that (mostly) adheres to how things work in the real world, so your attention to these finer points is appreciated.
Signed,
The person who desperately wants to know what name your write under.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Thanks cbg, I knew a fellow writer would understand! That was solid advice from the lawyer and I wholeheartedly agree. I had to make a similar decision on the first book in this series. In the rough draft I was adhering too strictly to the rule of law, and the readers in my test group felt something was missing, with nearly all of them making the same suggestion for a particular scene. In the end I decided to bend the rules a little to give the story a more satisfying resolution, and readers seem to like it this way. And there's really no point in writing fiction if we can't make it more satisfying than real life sometimes! I was prepared to take some artistic license in the second book as well, as I had a storyline I was quite attached to that I wasn't sure would ever really happen, but then I talked to an expert in the field and found out my storyline was actually quite plausible! I was over the moon about that! With this new book I'm also feeling optimistic that I can pull off the desired storyline without a problem, but I'll certainly use some license if necessary to pull it off.
Another question burning in my mind is: what's the lightest possible sentence the kidnapper could get? Is there any way she could get probation, or is some prison time a given? She doens't have a record, she took the child with a genuine belief that she could give her a better life than her birth parents could, and she raised her well. The baby she kidnapped is now a successful woman in her late thirties who is pretty upset about the arrest of the woman she's been calling Mom all these years. Because of other circumstances involving the birth family, I think a judge would have some sympathy for the kidnapper and would likely show some leniency, but nevertheless, she did commit a crime.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Quote:
Quoting
SilenceintheLibrary
Another question burning in my mind is: what's the lightest possible sentence the kidnapper could get?
One would have to look at the relevant Virginia statutes at the time of the kidnapping as well as the laws since to work that out. However, probation is almost certainly not going to be an option. Under current Virginia law kidnapping is generally a class 5 felony, punishable by no less than one year and no more than 10 years in prison. Virginia has no statute of limitations on kidnapping, so she could still be prosecuted for it. Note that the child is not the only victim here. The birth parents and other birth family members are, too, as they were deprived of a family member as a result of what was done. I don't see a Virginia judge taking that lightly, particularly in the more rural and conservative parts of the state.
She could also be charged by the federal government for kidnapping, especially since it resulted in taking the child across state lines. When the person taken is a child and the kidnapper is an adult, federal law provides that the kidnapper shall be sentenced to no less than 20 years in prison and may be sentenced to up to life in prison. So if the feds picked up the case, she would serve a very long time in prison. Note that she could end up serving time for both the Virginia crime and the federal offense consecutively.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Hmm...this might be a long shot, but is there any way she could potentially get off the hook, or bargain her way to a lesser conviction, by making a convincing case that she believed she was removing the child from harm?
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
If you want to put a trial in the book you could always go the jury nullification route.
Re: My Novel Woman Was Kidnapped at Birth - How to Sort Through Legal Issues
Quote:
Quoting
PayrolGuy
If you want to put a trial in the book you could always go the jury nullification route.
Yes but...
could you really see a jury voting not guilty at s trial for kidnapping? Typically jury nullification is seen as society stating they do not support a given law. In a case of kidnapping I can’t see a jury ignoring the injury caused to the involved family.