As of December 31, 2005, there were 109,531 active missing person records in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) systems. Juveniles under the age of 18 accounted for 58,081 (53.03 %) of the records and 11,868 (10.84 %) were for juveniles between the ages of 18 and 20. *
These are the number of records, not actual persons. There can be more entries than children (ex. every time a child runs away an entry is made and when they are found it is closed). So if a child runs away 10 times, that could have 10 different entries.
It is mandatory for missing children to be entered into NCIC under the age of 18 and now with the Suzanne’s law under the age of 21. There are some states fighting to get this changed that do not believe runaways are missing children. There are some states that only enter under 16.
“Suzanne’s Law” amends Section 3701 (a) of the Crime Control Act of 1990 so that there is no waiting period before a law enforcement agency initiates an investigation of a missing person under the age of twenty one and reports the missing person to the National Crime Information Center of the Department of Justice.
“Suzanne’s Law” is named after Suzanne Lyall a student at State University of New York at Albany, who has been missing since 1998.
*This fulfills requirements as set forth in Public Law 101-647, 104 statute 4967, Crime Control Act of 1990 stating the Attorney General is to publish a statistical summary of reports of missing children. This act was modified April 7, 2003, by “Suzanne’s Law” changing the definition of a missing person to be under 21 years of age.
[ref. 42 USC 5779(c)]
