A 1997 survey sponsored by the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention or OJJDP concluded that typical victim in child abductions resulting in murders was an 11 yr old white female from a middle class neighborhood. While stranger abduction is the most uncommon, it is by far the most dangerous. The study concluded that in over Forty percent of the cases, the abduction resulted in a child's murder. A later study conducted in 1999 by the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Throwaway Children or NISMART, defined these cases as "stereotypical kidnapping". The study found that in over 70% of the cases, the victim was take from an outdoor door area such as a park, street, playground, etc and about 7% of the cases occurred in public buildings such as a mall or store. NISMART estimates that approximately 80% of these abductions are sexually motivated. The most reliable studies put stranger abduction rates at around 100-200 cases per year. Of these cases, approximately 90% are committed by males who are between 20-40 years old. In these cases, the child is returned alive less than 60% of the time not including the 4% that are never found.

Important Child Abduction Statistics According to the FBI and The US Dept. of Justice

• • It is estimated that approximately 800,000 juveniles (under 18) are reported missing each year.


• • "Family kidnapping" accounts for nearly 50% of all child kidnappings.


• • "Acquaintance kidnapping" (kidnapping by person(s) known to the family account for over 25% of all child kidnappings.


• • "Stranger kidnapping" accounts for nearly 25% of all child kidnappings.


• • Kidnappings account for 2% of all reported violent crimes against juveniles.


• • Victims of "stranger kidnappings" are found alive only 60% of the time.


• • The number of missing persons has risen from just over 150,000 to over 800,000 in the last 20 years.


• • Approximately 80% of non family abductions are sexually motivated.

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