Endnotes

1. Because of important differences in both definitions and methodology, the NISMART–1 and NISMART–2 data and findings should not be compared directly.

2. The reference dates for some of the NISMART–2 component studies vary because of a delay caused by pending Federal legislation that, had it passed, would have made it impossible to conduct the National Household Survey of Youth, a key component of NISMART–2. In anticipation of a quick resolution, OJJDP decided to proceed with the Law Enforcement Study and the Juvenile Facilities Study because neither involved interviewing youth. Had these 1997 studies been postponed until 1999, it is highly unlikely that those estimates would have been statistically different.

3. NISMART–2 Bulletins on each of the episode types will describe the characteristics of all children who experienced these episodes in addition to presenting estimates of those who were counted as missing and reported missing.

4. All information concerning the U.S. child population reflects the average monthly estimate for the population ages 0–17 in 1999, as computed from the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Monthly Population Estimates (Monthly Postcensal Resident Population, by Single Year of Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin, eire.census.gov/popest/archives/national/nat_90s_detail/ nat_90s_1.php).

5. The category included only 40 missing children who had been stereotypically kidnapped and killed (an estimated 35) or were still missing (approximately 5) at the time of the study interviews. Information about the child’s recovery or return was unknown for an estimated 300 children, all of whom were runaways from institutions. Although individual facilities report their runaways to the authorities legally responsible for the youth (e.g., child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health), these authorities sometimes place a recovered child in another facility without notifying the original facility.

6. The Law Enforcement Survey classified stereotypically kidnapped children as reported missing only if the police were notified either by someone who discovered the child was missing or by someone who witnessed the abduction. Even in a stereotypical kidnapping, a child may not be reported missing if no one notices the child’s absence or if the discovery of the child’s body is the first evidence of the episode.