Question about kids

[annievh.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was watching one episode with a child abducted and they stated again that 99% of children that are abducted are killed within the first 24h. This kind of scares me, such a high statistic.

Is it true?

Comments

[britt-m-89.livejournal.com]

I was thinking that statistic was really high too. And I just watched that episode last night. Creepy how someone asked about this the next day.

[annievh.livejournal.com]

was it the season four episode where the !!!SPOILER ALLERT HUGE SPOILER AHEAD!!! the kid did it?
then it is wierd...
lol

[britt-m-89.livejournal.com]

yeah and i believe reid says the same thing in the episode about the girl abducted from the mall.

[silver-chipmunk.livejournal.com]

I suspect that they are simply using that as a shorthand for "any child abducted by a stranger." It's my understanding that most child abductions are by a family member as part of a custody dispute.

[annievh.livejournal.com]

you're right, I see that all the time.
Either way, it's a high statistic.

[cupcakery.livejournal.com]

I know the US DOJ says that 75% are killed within the first three hours.

[annievh.livejournal.com]

DEAR LORD!!!

[kellenanne.livejournal.com]

The number is a little high, but it gets the point across. I think they were speaking of stranger abductions. If the child isn't found within 24 hours, it is most likely that they won't be found (with figures ranging anywhere from 50%-75% of the abductions). The figures also include children that are missing and never found, alive or otherwise. Numbers have dropped a little since the Amber Alert and other programs were put into place, but there's still a really high chance that if a child is kidnapped by a stranger and now found within 24 hours, they either won't be found or will be found dead. ;_;

[imadoctornotalj.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it's true. And I think the reason is because people who abduct children aren't doing it just to abduct them, they're doing it to kill them and possibly get money out of it (like ransom.)

[took-skye.livejournal.com]

Well, if I remember the behind-the-scenes bit on this they're actually, specifically, talking about child abductions by strangers that, ultimately, will end in the child's murder anyway. (Not all kids who're abducted on a whole.)

It's 74% are murdered in the first 3 hours, and, yes, about 99% in the first 24 hours - according to the FBI's Crimes Against Children's division - it's why it's crucial for the police to get involved and start their investigation as soon as possible. ...I have more stats but, haha, they might only work to scare you more.

[annievh.livejournal.com]

but WHY?!
how come a child that is not found within 24h is never found or found dead?

[cupcakery.livejournal.com]

A number of reasons, really. It can be because of the Amber Alert system and the high visibility allotted to child abduction cases. The more publicity, the more panicked a kidnapper becomes. The longer time goes on, the higher chance that they'll be found out.

[took-skye.livejournal.com]

Like cupcakery says, a number of reasons. Panic on the part of the kidnapper as the search is announced and carried out being a common reason...as well as the fact, that most frequently, the abductor is known (or at least identifiable) enough by the child and/or his or her parents that a linkage could be made rather quickly once police are involved. ("Yeah, we saw a weird guy hanging at the park lately, he tried to talk to our kid yesterday, he looked like...") And, of course, if the kidnapper has an additional mental instability that doesn't help a child's long-term survival rate much either.

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

actually that other answer that you got is so wrong it's unbelieveable.

there's very, very few reasons why a stranger abducts a child.

people don't just kidnap kids off the street for lols. They do it because children are their desire objects. they take the kid, they rape and torture them, and then they kill them in order to try to escape detection so they can do it again.

it's that simple.

one thing you need to be aware of, though: true stranger abductions make up a tiny slice of the reasons why a child goes missing. this does not happen often.

[took-skye.livejournal.com]

Yeah whether it's the "I've never, ever, seen that person before in my life" stranger abductions or the more common "Yeah, I've kinda seen him around the neighborhood/he worked construction at my house for awhile/he's my brother-in-law's friend but I don't really know him that well" stranger abductions (I believe those still fall in the stranger category, but maybe "acquaintance" is more accurate) sex does tend to be the primary reason behind the abduction and, in the second case, why murder of the child might occur - the child and others who know the child (family, friends, etc) kinda know or at least could ID the kidnapper.

(The most common abductions these days, I believe, are actually custody-fight abductions but that wasn't what Criminal Minds was referring to when they mentioned the 99%/24hr stats...they referring to the two I just mentioned above.)

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

yes. most often it's the spouse who didn't get custodial rights who's doing the abducting, and the motivations are nearly always wildly different.

[scarredlove.livejournal.com]

In child abduction cases the child is usually killed within 1 hour of the abduction. In 74% of the cases, though, the child is killed within 3 hours of the abduction. In 99% of all cases the child is killed within the first 7 days after the abduction. 22% of children are still alive at the time they are reported missing and 42% are killed before they are even reported missing.

Hope that helps.

[annievh.livejournal.com]

it helps, but it creeps me out...

[annievh.livejournal.com]

yeah, i know, kidnap among family is the usual thing - such as parents getting divorced, or, I think, realtives that take the child to raise as their own because the parent is unsuitable.