> Then what happens if we make ransom illegal, and we have the police watching the bank accounts of kidnapped kids' families like hawks so usually even if paren

> Then what happens if we make ransom illegal, and we have the police watching the bank accounts of kidnapped kids' families like hawks so usually even if parents try to flout the law, the police can successfully freeze a transfer before the funds get to the kidnappers? Pretty obvious: the parents will not involve the police, say "no, Timmy is on a holiday with his uncle" when somebody asks where their son is, and do whatever they need to get their child back. And it's not certain that fewer children would get kidnapped if returning them for profit wasn't an option. The kidnappers might just switch to human trafficking and sell the children into slavery. Since the hand-over and payment for that business is probably much lower risk than getting a ransom payment and returning a child, they might find that it's a much more efficient system and increase their kidnapping frequency.