National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children (NISMART), [United States], 2019 (ICPSR 38443)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

NISMART-4 is the fourth of a series of studies undertaken in response to the mandate of the 1984 Missing Children's Assistance Act (Pub. L. 98-473) that requires the Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to conduct periodic national incidence studies to determine the number of children reported missing and the number recovered in a given year. All previous NISMART studies used four methodologies: a national household survey of parents/caretakers, a national survey of youth in these households, a survey of juvenile residential facilities, and a study of law enforcement data. However, due to cost and efficiency issues, all other methods were discontinued in NISMART-4 in favor of law enforcement data. That is, only cases which were reported to law enforcement agencies were used.

The law enforcement component of NISMART is focused on the Law Enforcement Survey on Stereotypical Kidnapping (LES-SK), which was designed to measure the national incidence of stereotypical kidnappings. NISMART defines a stereotypical kidnapping as when a child (17 and younger) was taken by a stranger or slight acquaintance, moved at least 20 feet or held for at least 1 hour, and one or more of the following serious circumstances applied: the child was kept overnight or longer, taken 50 miles or more, held for ransom, killed (or the abductor attempted to kill the child), or the perpetrator intended to keep the child permanently. Since NISMART-2, researchers have gone directly to law enforcement to collect these data, due to the limitations of other methodologies to collect these kidnapping cases.

The primary objectives of NISMART-4 were to (1) design and pilot test a more efficient methodology for collecting national data on the child victims of stereotypical kidnappings known to law enforcement; (2) implement the redesigned LES-SK survey to produce national estimates; (3) develop and pilot test instruments and sampling methods to collect information from law enforcement agencies on family abductions and other types of missing children, and returned children in preparation for a national survey; and (4) produce statistical products, methodological reports, and other scholarly research reports for dissemination to the public.

Study Design View help for Study Design

Three survey instruments were used for the national LES-SK: the screener survey, short form, and full (case) survey. The screener survey identified potential stereotypical kidnapping (SK) cases through web or mailed surveys. If agencies had SK cases, the screener asked them to provide case numbers and contact information for the investigating officer. The short form was sent to nonresponding agencies and asked whether the agency: (1) had jurisdiction to conduct investigations of missing children, (2) between January 1 and December 31, 2019 had investigated any cases where a child was abducted by a stranger, slight acquaintance or unknown person, (3) had investigated any child homicides in the same timeframe that met these criteria, or (4) had any child abductions from prior years that were open for investigation during the study timeframe. The full survey is designed to capture the full details surrounding a single case and is comprised of five sections: preliminary questions, child characteristics, perpetrator characteristics, crime characteristics, and investigation.

Efforts were made to identify additional cases through three sources: (1) the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's database, (2) cases investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and (3) online newspaper databases. Law enforcement was contacted about these additional cases when possible, and included if eligible. Cases were coded and cleaned for analysis. Researchers screened for cases which failed to meet eligibility requirements based on definition and timeframe issues. Based on the sample, the researchers attempted to estimate the number of national instances of SK cases, and compare trends between NISMART-4 and NISMART-3, which was conducted in 2011.

Sample View help for Sample

NISMART-4 LES-SK agencies were sampled according to a stratified cluster design, where the clusters were primary sampling units consisting of a single county or a group of small counties. The sampling frame was created from a national list of all United States counties, stratified by Census region (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West), and metro status. A total of 433 sample counties were included. Researchers identified law enforcement agencies in the sample counties using the 2016 Law Enforcement Agency Roster database (ICPSR 36697), and the USACOPS database. Agencies were determined to be in the scope of this project based on the mail survey question: "Does your agency have jurisdiction to conduct criminal investigations of cases in which a child is reported as missing or abducted?"

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

All law enforcement agencies within the national sample who reported stereotypical child kidnappings during 2019.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

The response rate of law enforcement agencies to the initial screener survey was 72.33% (3,299) out of 4,719 sample agencies.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2022-10-13

Weight View help for Weight

A weight was created for each agency and case (CASEFINWT) to allow the responding agencies and case interviews to represent all law enforcement agencies in the United States. A set of 80 jackknife replicate weights (CASEFINREPWT1-80) was also created for each agency and case for estimating variances. For further information on weights, please see the Law Enforcement Survey Technical Report on the National Institute of Justice's website.