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Missing and Abducted Children

NCJ Number
176177
Journal
Juristat Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: February 1998 Pages: -
Author(s)
B Reingold
Date Published
1998
Length
11 pages
Annotation
In 1998, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, about 56,000 cases of missing children under 18 years of age were reported to Canadian police; 78 percent of these cases involved runaways, while abductions accounted for less than 1 percent of all reported missing children.
Abstract
Abduction data were obtained from the Uniform Crime Reporting survey. Data showed most children reported missing were 14 years of age or older (72 percent). Almost 1,000 children were victims of an attempted or a completed abduction in Canada in 1996. Two-thirds of these cases involved parental abductions and one-third involved nonparental abductions. Between 1983 and 1992, the rate of child abductions increased by 65 percent, from 11.8 to 19.5 per 100,000 children under 16 years of age. Between 1992 and 1996, however, the rate decreased by 23 percent. Most individuals accused of abduction were male (60 percent). Females were more often victims of abduction (58 percent), particularly in nonparental abductions (66 percent). An appendix lists additional sources of information on missing and abducted children. 3 references, 2 tables, and 6 figures