OJJDP Annual Report 1998: Continuation Programs

MECP funded several continuation programs last year, including the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association's Safe Return Program. This program facilitates identification and safe return of memory-impaired persons who wander from their homes. During FY 1998, the Safe Return Program increased its registration database to nearly 45,000 individuals and assisted in the safe return of 992 individuals.

A Vermont State Trooper credits an OJJDP training course conducted by Fox Valley Technical College with helping him not only to substantiate a case of child sexual abuse but also to get the perpetrator to confess. The day the Child Sexual Exploitation Investigations class ended, the trooper was assigned to investigate a case that involved a father abusing his young daughter. Using several tips he learned in the class, the trooper interviewed the mother in-depth and learned that the man had previously sexually abused both an older daughter and his wife. "A week prior to the course, I would never have gone so deep into an interview with the mother, and would never have gotten the father to confess," said the State Trooper.

OJJDP funding allowed NCMEC to continue its online access to the FBI National Crime Information Center's (NCIC's) wanted and missing persons files. Such access allows NCMEC to verify NCIC entries, communicate with law enforcement through the Interstate Law Enforcement Telecommunication System, and become aware of life-threatening cases through the NCIC flagging system—capabilities that are crucial to NCMEC's mission of providing advice and technical assistance to law enforcement.

Temple University Institute for Survey Research in Philadelphia, PA, continued work on OJJDP's second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Exploited, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART II). This study builds on the strengths and addresses some of the weaknesses of the initial NISMART study, which was conducted in 1988. Temple has contracted with the University of New Hampshire Survey Research Laboratory and Westat to carry out specific components of the study and to provide extensive background information about the initial NISMART study. NISMART II will provide updated estimates on the number of missing children in the United States. Preliminary findings focusing on kidnaping are expected in late 1999.

The American Bar Association (ABA) of Washington, DC, continued a study of effective community-based approaches for dealing with missing and exploited children. Since the project began in 1995, the ABA has conducted a national search for communities that have successfully implemented a multiagency response to missing and exploited children and their families. The search resulted in selection of five communities with working multiagency responses that hold promise for replication. The ABA evaluated these five communities' responses and is preparing a final report that will synthesize the research findings into a modular training curriculum. The curriculum will help communities plan, implement, and evaluate their own multiagency responses to missing and exploited children and their families.

OJJDP also continued to fund the Parent Resource Support Network through a cooperative agreement with Public Administration Services (PAS) of McLean, VA. The goal of the project is to provide a resource for parents of missing children by developing a network of screened and trained volunteers (parents who have experienced a child's disappearance) to offer assistance and advice to parents upon request. During FY 1998, PAS installed a case management system to document referrals and assistance activity, recruited and trained parent volunteers, and began direct service delivery to requesting parents.

OJJDP funding allowed the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI) of Alexandria, VA, to continue to provide prosecutors with training and technical assistance pertaining to parental abduction cases and to develop a training course on prosecuting child sexual exploitation cases. Child sexual exploitation cases are among the most complicated that prosecutors confront because of the victims' age, societal and law enforcement attitudes about these victims, the need for specialized understanding of the dynamics of sexual exploitation, and jurisdictional and communication-related difficulties that result from the involvement of numerous agencies. To handle such cases effectively, prosecutors must approach victims with sensitivity and an understanding of the psychological dynamics involved. In FY 1998, APRI delivered training to 60 prosecutors and provided technical assistance to more than 400 prosecutors and investigators.

OJJDP awarded a grant to the National Center on Child Fatality Review (NCCFR) in Los Angeles, CA, in 1997 to develop uniform definitions for State and local reporting of child fatalities and to develop generic protocols for child fatality review teams for consideration by communities working on improving child death investigations. During 1998, NCCFR developed a model for integrating data among the Criminal Justice, Vital Statistics, and Social Services Child Abuse Indexes. NCCFR also selected a multidisciplinary national advisory board composed of representatives from across the country.

The Washington State Attorney General's Office (WAGO) received an OJJDP grant in 1993 to analyze solvability factors in missing child homicide investigations. During the course of its research, WAGO collected and analyzed data on specific characteristics of more than 550 missing child homicide cases. These data were recorded in WAGO's child homicide database. In FY 1998, WAGO conducted a national search and identified an additional 526 cases for possible inclusion in the database. Law enforcement database inquiries can be made by calling WAGO at 800-345-2793.

A 1997 OJJDP grant allowed the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Killer Unit to expand research intended to broaden law enforcement's understanding of how homicidal pedophiles select and lure victims, plan activities, and elude prosecution. The FBI and OJJDP will use information resulting from this research in training and technical assistance programs. FY 1998 activities under this research grant included identification of 300 prospective interview candidates, completion of a 780-question interview protocol, and submission of the protocol for review by various State boards.