RT Article
T1 Missing children: risks, repeats and responses
JF Policing and society
VO 30
IS 10
SP 1157
OP 1170
A1 Sidebottom, Aiden
A2 Cockbain, Ella
A2 Boulton, Laura
A2 Halford, Eric
A2 Phoenix, Jessica
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1798334321
AB Investigating reports of missing children is a major source of demand for the police in the UK. Repeat disappearances are common, can indicate underlying vulnerabilities and have been linked with various forms of exploitation and abuse. Inspired by research on repeat victimisation, this paper examines the prevalence and temporal patterns of repeat missing episodes by children, as well as the characteristics of those involved. Using data on all missing children incidents recorded by one UK police service in 2015 (n = 3352), we find that: (a) 75% of missing incidents involving children were repeats, i.e. attributed to children who had already been reported missing in 2015; (b) a small proportion of repeatedly missing children (n = 59; 4%) accounted for almost a third of all missing children incidents (n = 952, 28%); (c) over half of all first repeat disappearances occurred within four weeks of an initial police recorded missing episode; and (d) children recorded as missing ten times or more over the one year study period were significantly more likely than those recorded missing once to be teenagers, in the care system or to have drug and/or alcohol dependencies. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future research and the prevention of repeat disappearances by children.
K1 Care
K1 Exploitation
K1 missing children
K1 repeat victimisation
DO 10.1080/10439463.2019.1666129