Stockholm Syndrome is a phenomenon observed in criminology by which victims of abduction or hostage feel sympathy towards their captors and may even support their criminal acts.
Examples
- It was first observed and named after a bank robbery attempt in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1973. The hostages when freed by police action hagged and kissed their captors god-bye.
- In 1974, Patty Hearst became an accomplice to her abductors, the Symbionese Liberation Army.
- In 1985, a passenger of an airplane that was hijacked from Athens to Lebanon declared his sympathy with the hijackers.
- In 2002, a boy,Shawn Hornbeck, was abducted in Missouri for 4 years. During this time he was at the police reporting his stolen bike, but not that he was held captured.
- In 2006, Natascha Kampusch ran free after 10 years of imprisonment. Her captor, Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide to avoid punishment, but Natascha did not express satisfaction but regret and grieve.
