What is Hostage?
A '''hostage''' is a person who is held [[captive]] against his or her [[Will (philosophy)|will]]. Hostages are often taken (held captive) to force someone else to do something for their ''captors'' (the people who took them hostage). Hostages are taken for many different reasons. * [[Kidnapping]] is the act of taking a hostage and asking for a sum of money, called [[ransom]]. If the ransom is paid, the hostage is [[freedom|freed]]. If the ransom is not paid, the hostage is [[kill]]ed. * During some crimes, for example when [[thief|robbing]] a [[bank]], hostages may be taken to stop the [[police]] from [[wikt:attack|attacking]]. The hostages are commonly used to help the thief escape by either stopping the police from [[gun|shooting]] them or by freeing a hostage if the police will do something, for example, getting the robbers a [[car]] or a [[helicopter]]. * Hostages may be taken for [[politics|political]] reasons. This is mostly done as a form of [[terrorism]]. It is often done to get [[prisoner]]s (including [[prisoner of war]] at wartime) freed or get [[wikt:attention|attention]] for a group or [[Issue (debate)|issue]].{{Stub}} [[Category:Kidnapping]]