Crimes against children, particularly cases involving abduction and/or homicide, continue to be problematic as both a social phenomenon and judicial responsibility. Such cases routinely receive immense community and media attention and rapidly overwhelm investigative resources. Research in the area of childhood victimization, however, has only recently gained national prominence. While numerous studies on child abuse and neglect have been conducted, research on child abduction and homicide remains scant. Previous studies examining child abduction suffer from limited geographical scope or fail to base predictive analyses on victim characteristics. The current study reports the results of a nationally representative sample (47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) of 550 cases of alleged child abduction obtained from Federal Bureau of Investigation files for the period 1985 through 1995. Study results demonstrate that both offender and offense characteristics vary significantly according to victim age, gender, and race. Such 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 traits.

This article summarizes research findings in the area of child abduction. Topics addressed include incidence rates and operational definitions of child abduction (legal and social), victim and offender characteristics, and motivation (e.g., maternal desire, sex, retribution, profit, and desire to kill). Risk factors for child abduction are discussed including offender reports of victim selection methodology. Practical application of research findings are considered including the development of more scientifically sound, effective child safety training programs and improved investigative resource management and search methodologies.

No abstract

This article reviews existing research on the topics of child abduction and child homicide and attempts to identify and assess potential victim risk factors through a discussion of victim access, vulnerability, and routine activities theory. For example, are children of certain ages or genders more likely to be targeted by offenders? Who are the offenders in child homicides and what are the relationships between the offenders and their victims? Does motive or crime technique differ between offenders who have familiarity with victims versus those who are strangers? Ecological perspectives on child homicide are also discussed, including the concepts of competition, predation, and developmental victimology. Research that addresses these questions directly benefits law enforcement personnel, social workers, and forensic scientists actively working child homicide cases, and social scientists involved in the formulation of child homicide prevention programs and policies. In addition, this information helps improve prevention programs designed to protect children, helps children protect themselves, and provides potential avenues for identifying offenders in such cases.

Culturally sanctioned child homicide practices and criminally motivated acts of child murder result in thousands of juvenile deaths each year. Whereas research elucidating the causes and mechanisms underlying child abuse and neglect has gained national recognition and prominence, studies specifically addressing child homicide have historically been scant. Recently, however, comprehensive empirical studies have facilitated the examination of child homicide as a successional, life course process of victimization. Although homicidal deaths occur in children of all ages, risks and dynamics are not uniform. Child homicide incidence is generally bimodal, peaking in early childhood and late adolescence, periods characterized by intense competition and social rivalry. Analogous patterns of conspecific lethality have also been noted in many nonhuman primates and other social vertebrates. Although not mitigating human responsibility, descriptive comparative analyses of the behavioral changes inherent in juvenile growth and development, childhood socialization, and social competition can provide valuable insights into the proximate and ultimate causation of child homicide.