NCJ Number
220809
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2007 Pages: 378-394
Date Published
December 2007
Length
17 pages
Annotation
In examining hundreds of alerts issued in 2004 by the Scripps-Howard News Network, this study evaluated the effectiveness of AMBER Alert.
Abstract
The results suggest that the AMBER Alert system does not routinely function as intended. The available data show only a little evidence that children are being “recovered” because of AMBER Alerts, and even less evidence that they are being “rescued” from serious abduction events. AMBER Alerts are least likely to be successful when the abductor is a stranger. However, the data presented show that a majority of the children abducted by parents in AMBER Alert cases are successfully returned to the lawful guardian. This analysis yielded several important policy recommendations with the most important the need for more comprehensive research on the effectiveness of the AMBER Alert system in saving children. AMBER Alerts are public announcements designed to elicit citizen tips that could help rapidly recover abducted children before they can be harmed by their kidnappers. Using various media accounts as a data source to garner a convenience sample of 275 alerts, basic information was gathered, including victim-offender relationship, recovery time, and the direct effects of the alert. Table, notes, references