Struggling with California\u27s Kidnapping to Commit Robbery Provision

Section 209 of the California Penal Code prescribes the aggravated kidnapping offense of kidnapping to commit robbery. In People v. Daniels, the California Supreme Court reconsidered the legislative intent underlying section 209 and promulgated a new judicial interpretation of kidnapping to commit robbery. Whether an act constitutes this offense is now determined by a judicially developed two-prong test. This note analyzes the Daniels decision, criticizes the two-prong test for its deviations from the rationale expressed in Daniels, and proposes an alternative method of determining whether an act constitutes kidnapping for robbery