NamUs Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report

• NCJ Number: 307566
• Date Published: January 2024
• Length: 28 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description; Report (Annual/Periodic)

Annotation

The NamUs Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report provides a summary of milestones and developments from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022.

Abstract

This annual report summarizes the NamUs program highlights that occurred during the 2022 government fiscal year (October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022). It details metrics collected and analyzed from activities ranging from case entries, forensic service requests received and completed, workload of key program staff, and general programmatic updates. In 2003, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) began funding major efforts to maximize the use of DNA technology in the criminal justice system, including in the investigation of missing and unidentified person cases. By 2005, NIJ expanded its efforts with the “Identifying the Missing Summit,” where criminal justice practitioners, forensic scientists, policymakers, and victim advocates defined major challenges in investigating and solving missing and unidentified decedent cases. As a result of that summit, the Deputy Attorney General created the National Missing Persons Task Force, which identified the need to improve access to information that would help solve missing and unidentified person cases. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) was created to meet that need. The NamUs database is comprised of both active and archived missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases. The NamUs program grew to include forensic and analytical services. Professional users include law enforcement personnel, medical examiners, coroners, death investigators, and other allied forensic professionals. NamUs has grown in scope to include enhancements such identifiers for American Indian/Alaska Native cases, enhanced case mapping, and the offering of forensic genetic genealogy services. NamUs’ growth also includes a linked database for unclaimed persons cases. NamUs supports long-term missing and unidentified human remains case investigations and provides a repository of these cases for professional users, families of missing loved ones, and the public.