FACT SHEET
1999 MISSING CHILDREN STATISTICS
· In 1999, 867,129 missing persons (adults and juveniles) were reported
missing to the police and entered into the FBI's National Crime Information
Center (NCIC) computer.
· This is a positive
development, the second straight year that there has been a significant reduction
in the number of missing persons reported to the police. The 1999 reports
were down 7% from 1998. Yet, the total
increase since 1982 is still over 460% (154,341 entries in 1982 vs. 867,129
entries in 1999).
· The FBI estimates that 85 - 90% of missing persons are juveniles. Thus, in approximately 750,000 cases (or 2,100 per day) the disappearance of a child was serious enough that a parent called the police, the police took a report, and the police entered that report into NCIC.
· In 1990 Congress passed the National Child Search Assistance Act, mandating an immediate police report and NCIC entry in every case. Since 1990, NCIC missing persons reports have increased 30.6%.
· The primary NCIC categories in which missing children reports are entered are
"Juvenile" - 684,297 cases, down 8.6% from 1998 (police enter most missing child cases in "Juvenile," including some nonfamily abductions where there is no evidence of foul play)
"Endangered" - 114,091 cases (adults and juveniles), an increase of 2.1% over 1998 (defined as "missing and in the company of another person under circumstances indicating that his or her physical safety is in danger")
"Involuntary" - 31,896 cases (adults and juveniles), a decrease of 5% from 1997 (defined as "missing under circumstances indicating that the disappearance was not voluntary; i.e., abduction or kidnapping")
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation,
National Crime Information Center (NCIC), Missing Person File
