VARIETIES OF NONFAMILY ABDUCTION OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

A sample of 396 cases of nonfamily abduction was extracted from police records in a national survey of law enforcement agencies. Incidents t hat fit the public stereotype of a kidnapping (children who were taken by strangers and kept for an extended period of time or moved a long distance) were much less prevalent than incidents that simply met lega l definitions for abduction. The former-stereotypical abductions-also tended to involve more Caucasian preteen victims who were taken but no t sexually assaulted, The majority of legal-definition abductions, in contrast, was characterized by the forcible sexual assault of teenage girls. Legal-definition abductions that did not involve sexual assault occurred in the context of a diverse range of other crimes, including robbery attempts, hijackings, acts of revenge, intimidation and terro rizing, and dating violence. The findings support the idea of distingu ishing between stereotypical and legal-definition abductions and highl ight the need to orient efforts aimed at the prevention of nonfamily a bduction toward those at risk for sexual assault.