Health and Safety - Missing Children

In the 1980s, as a result of several prominent abductions and tragedies, the media focused public attention on the problem of missing children. Citizens became concerned and demanded action to address what appeared to be a national crisis. Attempting to discover the nature and dimension of the problem, Congress passed the 1984 Missing Children's Assistance Act (PL 98–473). The legislation mandated the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to conduct national incidence studies to determine the number of juveniles who were "victims of abduction by strangers" and the number of children who were victims of "parental kidnapping." The result was the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART), the first of which was conducted in 1988, with the results published in 1990. The second, more recent NISMART was conducted mainly in 1999, with many of the data published in a series of October 2002 reports.

Family Abductions

According to Children Abducted by Family Members: National Estimates and Characteristics (Heather Hammer et al., OJJDP, Washington, DC, October 2002), a family abduction is "the taking or keeping of a child by a family member in violation of a custody order, a decree, or other legitimate custodial rights, where the taking or keeping involved some element of concealment, flight, or intent to

FIGURE 5.6

deprive a lawful custodian indefinitely of custodial privileges." In 1999 203,900 children were victims of a family abduction. About half of these (53%) were abducted by biological fathers, and 25% by biological mothers. Most family-abducted children were not missing for long—46% were gone less than a week, and only 21% were away a month or more. Nearly half (42%) were abducted from a single-parent family. At the time the survey was done, 91% of the children had been returned, 6% had been located but not returned, and less than 1% had not been located or returned (there was no information on outcomes for 2% of cases).

FIGURE 5.7

Nonfamily Abductions

Although far fewer children are abducted by strangers than by family members, the consequences are often far worse. Violence, the use of force or weapons, sexual assault, and murder are more prevalent in nonfamily abductions. According to Nonfamily Abducted Children: National Estimates and Characteristics (David Finkelhor et al., OJJDP, Washington, DC, October 2002), 58,200 children were abducted by nonfamily members in 1999. Nearly half (46%) of these were sexually assaulted by their abductors. Only 115 of the abductions were "stereotypical kidnappings," in which a child was abducted by a slight acquaintance or stranger, detained overnight, transported fifty miles or more, held for ransom or with intention to keep permanently, or killed. Most nonfamily abducted children (59%) were 15–17 years old and 65% were female. The perpetrators were strangers 37% of the time and were three times as likely to be male as female. Most perpetrators (67%) were ages thirteen to twenty-nine. Most nonfamily abducted children (91%) were away for twenty-four hours or less, and 99% returned alive. The remaining 1% were either killed or had not been located at the time of the survey.

Runaways and Thrownaways

According to the OJJDP (Heather Hammer et al., Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics, Washington, DC, October 2002), runaways are children who meet at least one of the following criteria:

• A child who leaves home without permission and stays away overnight
• A child fourteen years old (or older and mentally incompetent) who is away from home who chooses not to come home when expected to and who stays away overnight
• A child fifteen years old or older who is away from home who chooses not to come home and stays away two nights

In the 1970s the label "throwaways" or "thrownaways" was given by researchers to juveniles who were made to leave home or were abandoned. A thrownaway child meets one of the following criteria:

• A child who is asked or told to leave home by a parent or other household adult, with no adequate alternative care arranged for the child by a household adult, and who is out of the household overnight
• A child who is away from home who is prevented from returning home by a parent or other household adult, with no adequate alternative care arranged for by a household adult, and who is out of the household overnight

The OJJDP now combines its estimates of runaways and thrownaways. In 1999 1.7 million youths had a runaway/thrownaway episode. The runaway episode was thought to indicate that 1.2 million of these children were endangered in the following ways:

• The child had been physically or sexually abused at home in the year prior to the episode or was afraid of abuse upon return (21%).
• The child was substance dependent (19%).
• The child was thirteen years old or younger (18%).
• The child was in the company of someone known to be abusing drugs (18%).
• The child was using hard drugs (17%).

Most runaway/thrownaway youth (68%) were fifteen years old or older; half were females and half were males. Most runaways (77%) were away less than one week, and more than 99% returned. An estimated 38,600 of the runaways were at risk of sexual endangerment—assault, attempted assault, or prostitution—while away from home.