Child abduction: Aged-based analyses of offender, victim, and offense characteristics in 550 cases of alleged child disappearance

Crimes against children, particularly cases involving abduction and/or homi cide, continue to be problematic as both a social phenomenon and judicial r esponsibility. Such cases routinely receive immense community and media att ention and rapidly overwhelm investigative resources. Research in the area of childhood victimization, however, has only recently gained national prom inence. While numerous studies on child abuse and neglect have been conduct ed, research on child abduction and homicide remains scant. Previous studie s examining child abduction suffer from limited geographical scope or fail to base predictive analyses on victim characteristics. The current study re ports the results of a nationally representative sample (47 states, the Dis trict of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) of 550 cases of alleged child abduction obtained from Federal Bureau of Investigation files for the period 1985 th rough 1995. Study results demonstrate that both offender and offense charac teristics vary significantly according to victim age, gender, and race. Suc h differences appear critical to crime reconstruction, criminal profiling, and investigative resolution. Additionally, these data suggest that current child abduction prevention programs may emphasize inaccurate offender trai ts.