KIDNAPPING FEDERALISM: UNITED STATES v. WILLS AND THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF EXTENDING FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAW INTO THE STATES.

KIDNAPPING; CRIMINAL law; CRIMINAL courts; FEDERAL government; UNITED States. Congress

The article discusses the realm of Federal Court in the United States. In the aftermath of the kidnapping of a child on March 1, 1932, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal kidnapping Act which was perceived by many as amounting to interference in the States' jurisdiction. Since then, the Act was employed with little controversy. Over the years, the Act performed the function for which it was designed. It gave federal authorities the ability to chase kidnappers across jurisdictional lines and prosecute them under a single, Federal criminal statute without becoming tangled in the mire of inconsistent state laws. The article provdies details of the famous case of "United States V. Wills." The article further examines the consequences of Christopher Andaryl Wills case in which the Federal jurisdiction under the Act can attach even when a kidnapper does not cross state lines, then the constitutionality of the Act is brought to question. What powers, if any, do the states still retain if the Federal government is free to police crimes within their borders? It tries to reach at a conclusion that federal jurisdiction was unconstitutional, violated the tenets of federalism and contradicted both precedent and the legislative purpose of the Act.