---

FACT SHEET

2001 MISSING CHILDREN STATISTICS

· In 2001, 840,279 missing persons (adults and juveniles) were reported missing to the police and entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC). This represents the smallest number of missing persons
reports since 1992 (801,358).

· The FBI estimates that 85 - 90% of missing persons are juveniles. Thus, in approximately 725,000 cases (or 2,000 per day) the disappearance of a child was serious enough that a parent called the police, the police took a report and entered it into NCIC.

· For just the fourth time in the twenty years since the passage of the Missing Children's Act in 1982, the number of missing persons reported to the police declined from the previous year. The 2001 reports were down 4.1% from 2000. The total increase since 1982 is 444% (154,341 entries in 1982 vs. 840,279 entries in 2000).

· 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 27%.

· The primary NCIC categories in which missing children reports are entered are "Juvenile" - 651,209 cases, down 5% from 2000 (police enter most missing child cases in "Juvenile," including some nonfamily abductions where there is no evidence of foul play)

"Endangered" - 119,237 cases (adults and juveniles), a decrease of 1.2% from 2000 (defined as "missing and in the company of another person under circumstances indicating that his/her physical safety is in danger")

"Involuntary" - 28,765 cases (adults and juveniles), a decrease of 8.8% from 2000 (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

---