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Minn. Stat. § 609.255

FALSE IMPRISONMENT.

Known as the Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 609–609 (377 sections).

Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case State v. Niska (1994)

Most recently applied in Bedeau v. Evans (April 2019)

1963 c 753 art 1 s 609 .255; 1983 c 217 s 2; 1984 c 628 art 3 s 11; 1986 c 444; 1988 c 655 s 1; 1989 c 290 art 6 s 12; 2012 c 175 s 2; 2023 c 52 art 6 s 16

How often courts cite this section

1981199020002010201920
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Subdivision 1. Definition.

As used in this section, the following term has the meaning given it unless specific content indicates otherwise.

"Caretaker" means an individual who has responsibility for the care of a child as a result of a family relationship, or who has assumed responsibility for all or a portion of the care of a child.

Subd. 2. Intentional restraint.

Whoever, knowingly lacking lawful authority to do so, intentionally confines or restrains someone else's child under the age of 18 years without consent of the child's parent or legal custodian, or any other person without the person's consent, is guilty of false imprisonment and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than three years or to payment of a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.

Subd. 3. Unreasonable restraint of children.

(a) A parent, legal guardian, or caretaker who intentionally subjects a child under the age of 18 years to unreasonable physical confinement or restraint by means including but not limited to, tying, locking, caging, or chaining for a prolonged period of time and in a cruel manner which is excessive under the circumstances, is guilty of unreasonable restraint of a child and, except as provided in paragraph (b) or (c), may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 364 days or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.

(b) If the confinement or restraint results in demonstrable bodily harm, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than two years or to payment of a fine of not more than $4,000, or both.

(c) If the confinement or restraint results in substantial bodily harm, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.

Official source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Minnesota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.