Hostage Taking is a crime in which an individual or group of people take one or more people as hostages in order to gain an advantage. The hostage-taker may use the hostages to demand money, goods, or services from the hostage-taker’s target. Hostage Taking can also be used to gain political recognition and/or to make a statement. There are two main types of Hostage Taking: criminal and political. Criminal Hostage Taking is primarily done to achieve some kind of financial gain, such as a ransom or the release of a hostage-taker’s associate from prison. Political Hostage Taking is typically done to draw attention to a political cause or to pressure a government or organization to make a change. In both cases, the hostage-taker may threaten to harm or kill the hostages in order to achieve their goals.