Year 1998

• In 1998 - 932,190 missing persons (adults and juveniles) were reported missing to the police and entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer.
• This is a positive development, the first time in 16 years since the passage of the Missing Children's Act in 1982 that there has been a significants reduction in the number of missing persons reported to the police. There was a 1.4% decline in 1996. The 1998 reports were down 5% from 1997. Yet the total increase since 1982 is still over 500% (154,341 entries in 1982 vs. 932,190 in 1998)
• The FBI estimates that 85% - 90% of missing persons are juveniles. Thus, in approxiamately 800,000 cases (or 2,200 per day) the disappearance of a child was serious enough that a parent called the police, the police took a report, and the police entered that report into NCIC.
• 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 40.4%.
• The primary NCIC categories in which missing children reports are entered are:

1. ``Juvenile'' - 749,090 cases, down 6.5% from 1997 (police enter most missing child cases in ``Juvenile'', including some nonfamily abductions where there is no evidence of foul play).
2. ``Endangered'' - 111,723 cases (adults and juveniles), an increase of 5% over 1997 (defined as ``missing and in the company of another person under circumstances indicating that his or her physical safety is in danger'').
3. ``Involuntary'' - 33,038 cases (adults and juveniles), a decrease of 2.5% from 1997 (defined as ``missing under circumstances indicating that the disappearance was not voluntary; i.e., abduction or kidnapping'').