Information that lets us understand what in the world is going on   Statistics on missing and abducted children can be, and very often are, very misleading. Much to our dismay, the number of missing and abducted children seems to vary depending on who you talk to.   We do know that there is only one mandatory reporting system in the United States and that is the NCIC, the FBI's National Crime Information Center. It is federal law that all children reported missing or abducted must be entered into NCIC at the time a police report is taken. THERE ARE NO WAITING PERIODS; therefore it would make sense that the FBI has a very good idea of who is missing at any given time. We need to have that information disseminated to all non-profit child find organizations on a monthly basis.   Likewise, if good records are kept at the State Department's Office of Children's Issues, we should be able to get a pretty accurate accounting of all children taken out of the United States to a foreign country as well as what the resolution of that case is. This information should be available to all non-profit child find organizations.   The only way we can offer services to parents of missing or abducted children is if we know who they are. Parents should not be denied the services of any organization that may be able to assist them in the recovery of their children.   We have tried to gather as much as we can on the subject of statistics as they relate to missing and abducted children. We have included reports that are statistical in focus as well as any testimony that reports on the numbers of missing and abducted children.   We recommend that anyone interested in this area of study, or if you are a reporter, that you request a copy of the NCMEC quarterly report. If the report goes on line we will start to include it here. Call 1-800-The-Lost to request your copy. Case Management: The Missing Children Homicide Investigation, 1997 (A Research Findings Report) "The list of children who are abducted and killed each year by someone who is not a family member is relatively small compared to the number of missing children or to other types of murders. This research was undertaken in an effort to better understand these types of murders, and to identify investigative techniques and strategies that will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal investigations and the apprehension rate of the murderers who abduct children". "Reprinted with the permission of the office of The Attorney General, State of Washington". Child Abduction Statistics Early Identification of Risk Factors for Parental Abduction: March 2001. Although custody laws vary from state to state, abducting one's own child is a crime in every state. If a parent or other family member takes, hides, or keeps a child away from a parent with custody or visitation rights, then he or she may have committed a crime. >NOTE: "In some States, these actions are a crime if a custody order is in place, while in other States, these actions are a crime if the parent has a right to custody". 1998 Fact Sheet: On Missing and Abducted Children 1999 Fact Sheet: On Missing and Abducted Children 2000 Fact Sheet: On Missing and Abducted Children Fact Sheet: Crimes Against Children: Children and adolescents have among the highest rates of conventional crime victimization and, in addition, suffer from some crimes -- like sexual abuse and family abduction -- specific to childhood. Despite enormous publicity about crime and youth, however, this high vulnerability is seldom mentioned. These facts and statistics about crimes against children are compiled from a variety of sources. Homicides of Children and Youth: "Substantial misunderstandings exist about the magnitude of and trends in juvenile homicide and the types of children at risk of becoming victims of different types of homicide". Homicides of Children Under Age 5: The number of homicides of children under age 5 increased over the past two decades but declined recently. Homicide trends in the U.S. This overview summarizes the primary findings for each topic and lists the charts presented in Homicide trends in the United States. Link within this overview to the primary findings and small versions or thumbnails of the charts by selecting one of the following: NISMART: Second Comprehensive Study of Missing Children Overview, April 2000. PDF File NISMART: October 2002 National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview By: Andrea J. Sedla, David Finkelhor, Heather Hammer and Dana J. Schultz. NISMART: October 2002 Children Abducted by Family Members: National Estimates and Characteristics. By: Heather Hammer, David Finkelhor and Andrea J. Sedlak. NISMART: October 2002 Nonfamily Abducted Children: National Estimates and Charactistics. By: David Finkelhor, Heather Hammer and Andrea J. Sedlak. NISMART: October 2002 Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics. By: Heather Hammer, David Finkelhor and Andrea J. Sedlak. Parental Abduction of Children An overview and profile of the Abductor: 1994. This is a paper written in 1994 to address the problem of parental abduction in Canada. The profile of an abductor has relevance to abduction in the United States as well. A review of the literature on abduction produced the profile.