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The Criminal Justice System's Response to Parental Abduction

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The Criminal Justice System's Response to Parental Abduction U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention December 2001 The Criminal Justice A Message From OJJDP System’s Response to The expeditious return of a missing child who has been abducted is a Parental Abduction critical step toward alleviating the trauma suffered by both child and parent. The active involvement of both law enforcement and criminal Kathi L. Grasso, Andrea J. Sedlak, Janet L. Chiancone, court officials is, of course, integral Frances Gragg, Dana Schultz, and Joseph F. Ryan to attaining this desired goal. Millions of Americans receive advertise- to as “family abduction”) is defined as As research has demonstrated, the ments in the mail with pictures of miss- “the taking, retention, or concealment of a most prevalent form of child abduc- tion in the United States is parental ing children and their alleged abductors. child or children by a parent, other family kidnapping. This Bulletin draws on Many people quickly glance at the pic- member, or their agent, in derogation of findings of a study conducted for tures, some study them more carefully, the custody rights, including visitation OJJDP by the American Bar Asso- and some do not look at all. In the major- rights, of another parent or family mem- ciation Center on Children and the ity of cases, these children have been ab- ber” (Girdner, 1993:1–11). Abductors may Law and Westat to assess the cri- ducted by relatives, usually a parent. be other family members or their agents minal justice system’s response to (e.g., girlfriend, boyfriend, grandparent, parental abduction. Parental abduction can have a devastat- or even a private investigator), although ing impact on the child who is abducted in most cases the abductor is a child’s Parental abduction is a crime in and also the parent who is left behind. A parent (Girdner, 1993). Some State crimi- all 50 States and in the District of quick recovery is critical to reducing the nal statutes use the term “custodial inter- Columbia and, in most cases, con- trauma to both child and parent. Law en- ference” (rather than parental abduction, stitutes a felony. The OJJDP study reviewed all stages of the criminal forcement and criminal court involvement family abduction, or kidnapping) when justice system’s response to this in these cases can make the difference in referring to this crime and may include how effectively the search is conducted crime, including the reporting of the incidents in which children are detained abduction, the investigation of the and can influence how quickly the child or enticed away from the custodial par- is recovered. case, the finding and recovery of the ent. Custodial interference can also be victim, and the criminal prosecution To better understand the criminal justice defined to include interference with a of the perpetrator or perpetrators. system’s response to parental abduction, court order of visitation or access. To date, it is one of the most com- the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delin- Although many individuals, including prehensive studies of this issue. quency Prevention (OJJDP) funded a some law enforcement personnel, perceive Children stand to benefit from a re- study—conducted jointly by the Amer- parental abduction as “civil in nature” and view of the study’s findings by law ican Bar Association Center on Children a private family matter best handled out- enforcement and court officials and and the Law and Westat—that examined side the realm of the criminal justice sys- other representatives of the justice this issue. This Bulletin summarizes the system. The information provided in 1 tem, it is a crime in all 50 States and the primary findings of this study. District of Columbia and, in most cases, these pages is intended to facilitate constitutes a felony. In some States, pa- such crucial consideration. Definition and Legal rental abduction constitutes a crime only in cases in which a custody order has Framework been violated. In others, no custody order For purposes of this Bulletin (and for is required for parental abduction to be much of the research conducted on this considered a criminal offense. issue), parental abduction (also referred ◆ National estimates of parental abduc- Criminal and Civil Laws Regarding Parental Abduction tion cases which were opened by pros- ecutors and in which criminal charges The Missing Children’s Act of 1982 (28 U.S.C. § 534(a)). This Act requires the were filed. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to enter descriptive information on missing children into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, a computer ◆ Law enforcement authorities’ use of database with information on missing persons that can be accessed by law en- management information systems forcement agencies nationwide. (MISs) and written policies and proce- dures in responding to parental abduc- The National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. § 5780). This tion reports. Act requires that State and local law enforcement agencies immediately enter in- formation on missing children younger than 18 into the NCIC database and pro- ◆ Staffing characteristics and adminis- hibits such agencies from maintaining any waiting period prior to taking a report trative resources. of a missing child. ◆ Staff participation in formal training or The Missing Children’s Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 5771 et seq.). Enacted in special programs addressing parental 1984 and reauthorized in 1988, 1992, and 1999, this Act resulted in the establish- abduction. ment of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. NCMEC serves as ◆ Parental abduction case flow through a national resource center on missing children, providing support to criminal jus- the criminal justice system. tice system personnel and aggrieved parents as they seek to identify and recover missing children, including those who have been abducted by a parent. It operates ◆ Characteristics of cases in which law a toll-free hotline, provides technical assistance to law enforcement personnel in enforcement intervened by investigat- the field, and educates the public and others on relevant issues. ing and/or filing criminal complaints. The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act of 1980 (28 U.S.C. § 1738A). Providing ◆ Model approaches to the handling of for civil remedies, this Federal Act gives jurisdictional priority to the child’s home parental abduction cases. State in parental abduction cases where conflicts arise between two States. It ex- The study consisted of three phases: tends the Federal Fugitive Felon Act to cases in which a child has been taken out of a State where that act would constitute a felony, thus enabling the FBI to investi- ◆ Phase 1: A nationally representative gate. It also authorizes certain persons access to the Federal Parent Locator Ser- survey of law enforcement agencies vice for purposes of identifying the whereabouts of a parentally abducted child. and prosecutors’ offices. The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA). An important civil rem- ◆ Phase 2: Site visits to six counties edy that exists to combat parental abduction, this jurisdictional statute governs where a larger than average number when a court has jurisdiction over a parental abduction case and attempts to pre- of parental abduction cases were vent the occurrence of simultaneous proceedings in two different States. It has prosecuted. been enacted with some variation in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and ◆ Phase 3: A review of individual paren- the Virgin Islands. tal abduction case files in the law en- The Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). forcement agencies and prosecutors’ The Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, adopted unani- offices of three of the six jurisdictions mously by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in visited. 1997 and approved by the American Bar Association in 1998, amends UCCJA to bring it into conformity with the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act. UCCJEA also The study examined all facets of the crimi- clarifies jurisdictional provisions of UCCJA that courts have interpreted inconsis- nal justice system’s response, including tently across the country. As of January 2001, 22 States had enacted UCCJEA.1 the reporting of the incident, investigation of the case, location and recovery of the The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. child, and criminal prosecution of the ab- This Convention, ratified by the United States in 1988, is an international treaty cur- ductor(s). The site visits provided insight rently in effect in 43 countries.2 It serves to simplify and expedite the return process into various aspects of unique programs, when children have been abducted internationally. The Convention’s implementing and the national survey and case file re- procedures can be found in the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (42 views attempted to identify those charac- U.S.C. §§ 11601 et seq.). In 1993, the United States also passed the International teristics that resulted in an enhanced sys- Parental Kidnapping Crime Act (18 U.S.C. § 1204), making the abduction or reten- tem response. Based on these findings, tion of a child from the United States a felony. the researchers developed recommenda- tions for statutory, policy, and program- 1. For more detail about UCCJEA, including a list of States that have adopted the Act, see http://www.nccusl. matic change. The study described in this org/nccusl/uniformact_factsheets/uniformacts-fs-uccjea.asp.
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