NCJ Number
92730
Date Published
1983
Length
113 pages
Annotation
Legislators, parents of kidnapped children, and a FBI official testified regarding the FBI's role in child kidnapping cases and requirements of evidence of abduction and interstate transport for FBI intervention.
Abstract
Senator Paula Hawkins, who has sponsored legislation on missing children, reviewed Senate committee investigators' research into Department of Justice and FBI policies and practices concerning the disappearance of children 9 years of age or younger. These studies concluded that the FBI does not undertake active investigations in most cases. Three parents of children who had been kidnaped -- one child was found murdered and the other two are still missing -- described their contacts with the FBI. These accounts revealed either delays in FBI assistance or the lack of active investigation. The next witness, chief of the FBI's Personal Crimes Unit, commented that the FBI did not have authority to search for every missing child, but could act only when there was an indication that the child had been abducted or a Federal law had been violated. He refuted criticisms made by the three parents, discussed the presumption of interstate commerce 24 hours after a child is reported missing if evidence of abduction exists, the missing child's young age as a determinant of abduction, and the FBI's practice of polygraphing parents of missing children. A congressman from Illinois expressed his concern with current FBI policies and felt that a child's age should be a major factor in deciding whether the FBI should intervene. Witnesses' prepared statements, exhibits, and a FBI directive on kidnaping are included.