Some of the statistics behind child abductions in the US are staggering and others are less severe than most people think. More than 350,000 family abductions occur each year. That is nearly 1,000 per day. About 163,000 of these cases involve the concealment of a child, transporting out-of-state, or intent to keep the child permanently.
It is your job to know and understand these statistics so you and your family don't become a part of them. However, parents must be sure not to become victims of fear and end up projecting this fear onto their children. Listed below are some statistics that will help put things in perspective and alert you to the realities of child abduction as opposed to the myth.
According to USA Today, a study conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, examined 403 attempted kidnappings by strangers or slight acquaintances that were reported by police or news media in 45 states from February 2005 to July 2006. The study did not look at successful abductions. Six in ten victims fought back and escaped, according to the ongoing study's initial findings. Three in ten ran away before any physical contact, and about 10 percent were saved when an adult nearby intervened.
While public fears and perceptions focus on stereotypical stranger type of abduction, in which an older adult male from outside a community preys upon an unsuspecting child for sexual gratification, initial research findings paint a different picture. Studies found that abductions by family members represented the most prevalent child abduction type.
On average, 2,185 children under the age of 18 were reported missing each day of the study year. That adds up to more than 797,500 children annually. Again, the vast majority of these cases were comprised of parental abductions and runaway cases where the victim was recovered quickly.
Each year there are about 3,000 to 5,000 non-family abductions reported to police, most of which are short term sexually-motivated cases. About 200 to 300 of these cases, or 6 percent, make up the most serious cases where the child was murdered, ransomed or taken with the intent to keep.
According to a study conducted by the chief criminal investigator in the Washington Attorney General's office, the average age of the child abductor in cases where the child was kept long-term and ended in fatality, was 27. Two-thirds of them were white, 73 percent were single and most had jobs requiring few skills. Before the murders occurred, 45 percent of the suspects had sexually assaulted a child and 31 percent had either raped or tried to rape a child in the past.
|
