NCJ Number
185250
Editor(s)
Kathi L. Grasso
Date Published
March 2000
Length
394 pages
Annotation
The primary goal of the project profiled in this report has been to provide further insight into whether and how the criminal justice system intervenes in parental abduction cases.
Abstract
One phase of the study was a nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. A second phase consisted of interviews with criminal justice personnel and others involved in the processing of parental-abduction cases in six counties that had among the highest number of criminal complaints of parental abduction filed by prosecutors. The third phase involved analyses of individual case files in three of the six jurisdictions visited. This study found that the criminal justice system is paying relatively scant attention to the crime of parental abduction. As reported in NISMART, an estimated 155,800 children are victims of relatively serious family abduction in the course of a year, yet only 30,500 police reports are officially registered, and only an estimated 4,500 arrests for parental abduction are made. Only 9,200 cases are officially opened, and only 3,500 criminal complaints are actually filed. Despite the fact that parental abduction is a crime in all 50 States and the District of Columbia, this study found that criminal justice agencies have not implemented training and other programs that would enhance law enforcement in this area. During site visits, however, several jurisdictions were found to have developed unique and effective approaches to the handling of parental abduction cases. These include statutory authority to intervene effectively; agency leaders and staff committed to countering parental abduction; personnel specialized in the handling of these cases; coordinated agency response; good agency management practices; and agency staff and victimized parents having access to supportive services. Strategies for model program implementation based on these practices are described, and recommendations for legal, programmatic, and policy reform are offered. A computer diskette contains the files of this study. Extensive tabular data and appended study instruments, case summaries, a law reform package, and sample prosecution and police procedures