RL31655
Missing and Exploited Children: Overview and Policy Concerns
September 26, 2003

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Summary:

Concern about missing and exploited children gained national prominence over 20 years ago when 6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted and killed. Consequently, several parents of missing children and other interested persons worked for the passage of the Missing Children's Act of 1982, and later for the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984 (MCAA) to assist in recovering such children and to bring the perpetrators to justice. MCAA created the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and required periodic incidence studies to determine the number of children reported missing and recovered in the nation in a given year. Last authorized in 1999, MCAA is up for reauthorization in the 108th Congress. In 1990, the first incidence study was released entitled, National Incidence Study on Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children in America (NISMART1). In October 2002, a second incidence study referred to as NISMART-2 was released. Both studies found that the concept of missing children was complex and that children can be considered missing because of a wide range of circumstances. NISMART-1 estimated that in 1988, 200 to 300 children were kidnapped by strangers. NISMART-2 found that in 1999, 115 children were kidnapped by strangers. Although such kidnappings appear to have declined, the Department of Justice concluded that trends could not be established because of design differences in the studies. NISMART-2 found that family abductions, 203,900, outnumbered stranger abductions, 58,200, which included stereotypical kidnapping among many other types of situations. In 1996, a local system to help recover abducted children, called the AMBER Alert plan, was created in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area and named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was abducted and killed. In the 108th Congress, several bills were introduced to create a national AMBER Alert system. S. 151, the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act, was passed, amended, and signed into law (P. L. 108-21) to develop and/or enhance AMBER Alert plans, reauthorize NCMEC, and strengthen law enforcement and federal criminal code provisions related to missing and exploited children. H.R. 1925, the Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children Protection Act, introduced to reauthorize programs under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) and MCAA, was favorably reported, amended, by the full Committee (H.Rept. 108-118), and passed by the House on May 20. The measure was sent to the Senate on May 21, and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. On July 24, 2003, S. 1451, identical to H.R. 1925, was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. On September 25, 2003, the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported the measure, without written report, and placed it on the Senate Legislative Calendar.