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Here's an article on missing children
Jun. 21st, 2009 07:22 pm
Clicky
It confirms that that 50 year old man who thought he was the missing two year old from years ago was not - a tragedy for both families (his actual family is pissed as hell that he went through this when they KNOW he was born in such-and-fuch hospital), no doubt.
Some interesting quotes, though:
More than 778,000 people nationwide were reported missing last year. Nearly 80 percent of them were under 18, FBI statistics show.
778,000... let's see. 80% of that is 622,400 people. Only a quarter of the population is under the age of 18, so yes, this IS pretty disproportionate. The US has, in fact, some 8,514,931 minors. So every year, maybe 10% of them are reported missing.
Some of those reports are false reports, or doubles, or errors of other kinds. Some are runaways and whatnot.
What does the article say?
Most missing children are found fairly quickly, according to a 2002 study done for the federal Department of Justice. The study found fewer than 10 percent of missing children were kidnapped, usually by relatives.
So of the 10% reported missing every year, fewer than 10% are kidnapped (most are runaways, kids who happened to wander off, and errors). So your kid has a less than 1% chance of being kidnapped. And if they ARE kidnapped, odds are that they'll be taken by a relative in a custody dispute. Usually, the relative wants to take care of them (however poorly they might do so), so it's not ideal but it's not your worst nightmare either.
Police in New York — where 8,202 missing persons cases were opened last year — also say that nearly all children reported missing soon turn up.
Even those kids who are reported missing are found at such a percentage that we can call it "nearly all".
This has been known for ages, of course, but it's nice to see it confirmed. Again. (And my sympathies go out to those who are on the bad end of statistics, but my sympathies go out to people attacked by sharks and struck by lightning as well. I take reasonable precautions and assume unlikely events are just that - unlikely.)
It confirms that that 50 year old man who thought he was the missing two year old from years ago was not - a tragedy for both families (his actual family is pissed as hell that he went through this when they KNOW he was born in such-and-fuch hospital), no doubt.
Some interesting quotes, though:
More than 778,000 people nationwide were reported missing last year. Nearly 80 percent of them were under 18, FBI statistics show.
778,000... let's see. 80% of that is 622,400 people. Only a quarter of the population is under the age of 18, so yes, this IS pretty disproportionate. The US has, in fact, some 8,514,931 minors. So every year, maybe 10% of them are reported missing.
Some of those reports are false reports, or doubles, or errors of other kinds. Some are runaways and whatnot.
What does the article say?
Most missing children are found fairly quickly, according to a 2002 study done for the federal Department of Justice. The study found fewer than 10 percent of missing children were kidnapped, usually by relatives.
So of the 10% reported missing every year, fewer than 10% are kidnapped (most are runaways, kids who happened to wander off, and errors). So your kid has a less than 1% chance of being kidnapped. And if they ARE kidnapped, odds are that they'll be taken by a relative in a custody dispute. Usually, the relative wants to take care of them (however poorly they might do so), so it's not ideal but it's not your worst nightmare either.
Police in New York — where 8,202 missing persons cases were opened last year — also say that nearly all children reported missing soon turn up.
Even those kids who are reported missing are found at such a percentage that we can call it "nearly all".
This has been known for ages, of course, but it's nice to see it confirmed. Again. (And my sympathies go out to those who are on the bad end of statistics, but my sympathies go out to people attacked by sharks and struck by lightning as well. I take reasonable precautions and assume unlikely events are just that - unlikely.)
