Child Abduction

In 1996, a 9 year old girl, Amber Hagerman was riding her bike around the neighborhood when a neighbor heard her scream. The neighbor witnessed the little girl being pulled off her bike, by a man, and thrown into a pickup truck. The neighbor called the police, and Amber’s brother went home and notified their parents. After contacting a man who had a similar event happen to his daughter, the family began contacting the media and the FBI. Neighbors, friends and family began searching for Amber, and after the media aired information about her case, most in Arlington, Texas

According to the United States Department of Justice every forty seconds a child is being abducted. This works out to be about 2,000 abductions per day and 800,000 abductions per year. This would be 11.4 children per every 1,000 children being abducted. Seventy-five percent of abductions are committed by males. Sixty-seven percent of these perpetrators are under the age of twenty-nine. Seventy-four percent of children abducted are girls. Seventy-one percent of the kidnappers are strangers to the victims. Eighty percent of abductions occur within a quarter of a mile from where the child lives. Less than sixty of the children are returned to their families alive. Four percent of the children abducted are never found. Seventy-four

This shows that the relationship with the mother and kids was very unstable in a way. The children then went out their way to pull a prank out in the street and risk Tiffany, the youngest sibling’s life. This was very dangerous but the children did not give off any fear from attempting the act.

“I want my mommy” is a common phrase used by kids who are in emotional distress and want to find comfort. To hear a child utter those words would be enough to evoke empathy in most Americans. Unfortunately, while most Americans look at a child as helpless, emotional, and pure, there is a darker side to the U.S population. This demographic actively chooses to disregard a child's innocence and uses them for their own personal needs: sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is the exploitation of nonconsensual people that occurs throughout the United States and Globally. Oftentimes the victims are subjected to threats, violence, and other forms of coercion to compel their victims to perform commercial sex acts. The reason this is a problem is that sex

Deej Logan was just like any normal high school girl. She woke up on her first day of school and combed her hair, picked out the “perfect” outfit and headed out the door. What she didn’t know is that after that day nothing would be the same. Nothing that day seemed to be going right. At school drama was swarming all around her, not exactly what she hoped the first day would be like. By the time the last bell of the day rang she was more than happy to get out of that school. She drove home as quickly as she could but as soon as she got home she realized that she had forgotten to pick up her sisters. “Great.” She thought sarcastically as she sat back down in her car and drove off. Just then she pulled out her phone to message one of her friends about her awful day. That one decision changed everything. Before she had a chance to send the message Deej veered off into oncoming traffic and was killed on impact.

Although the Amber Alert plan is named after Amber Hagerman, this national program is now dedicated to all children nationwide who have been abducted (State of Indiana Amber Alert Plan, 2010). According to the United States Department of Justice, up to 4,600 children are abducted by strangers every year, (about 12 children everyday), (State of Indiana Amber Alert Plan).

For 30 years, advocates, program administrators, and politicians have joined to encourage even more reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Their efforts have been successful, with about three million cases of suspected child abuse having been reported in 1993. Large numbers of endangered children still go unreported, but a serious problem had developed: Upon investigation, as many as 65 percent or the reports now being made are determined to be "unsubstantiated", raising serious civil liberties concerns and placing a huge burden on investigative staffs.

experience. We take the resources we have to find these children, for granted. Technology has

In 1991, Jaycee Dugard was an ordinary, happy eleven-year-old girl living in Lake Tahoe, California. On day, as she was walking to school, a strange vehicle pulled up beside her. Sensing something was wrong, the child began to move away from the suspicious van, but before she could get away she felt a rush of electricity through her body; she was shot by a stun gun. Unable to resist, Jaycee was dragged into the car, covered with a blanket, and driven to her kidnapper’s hidden backyard where she would be held captive for eighteen years.

When some people hear the expression “child sex trafficking” inevitably unspeakable thoughts come to mind, others are unaware this is even happening. Sex trafficking is a serious criminal issue taking place within the borders of the United States, but on the outside of these boarders this crime stands as a reliable source of income for those who participate. Although child sex trafficking is a local crime it is obvious that multiple nations have different viewpoints on the topic. The problem at hand is meeting in the middle where this situation can exist without creating a riot with residents and eliminating the destruction of young children’s lives. Though this topic is a sensitive one, there are ways to allow it to coexist in everyday

Unfortunately, she is still missing after more than 2,000 leads and over $1 million dollars spent trying to find her. Of the 634,908 people missing, 460,699 of these persons missing are children under 18 years old. This is 73% of the persons reported missing within the U.S. of 2015. With the amount of missing reports filed, a majority of the cases opened are cleared and closed after the person is found. Since 1997, the amount of missing people has steadily decreased. Overall in the past three years, missing people in the U.S. has been the lowest since 1990.

In the town of South Lake Tahoe, children played safely outside, the sun always seemed to be shining, and laughter was a common sound. Everyone knew one another and crime ratings were close to zero. Due to the town’s “child-friendly” nature, the Dugard family called this place home (Hawkins). However, on June 10, 1991, a fiery nightmare exploded into reality for eleven year-old Jaycee Dugard. Walking towards the bus stop, Jaycee was dragged into a grey sedan (Hawkins). Jaycee’s stepfather Carl Probyn witnessed this gut-wrenching act from down the street and tried unsuccessfully to trail the car on a bike. (Tresniowski). Jaycee’s mother, Terry, lost control of her emotions after her daughter’s

The town turns quickly turns to a frenzy, when all of the younger kids start roaming the streets looking for their parents. The really young kids, between the ages of 1-9 years-old have absolutely no clue whats going on or where their parents are. Some are crying, and they are absolutely terrified.

Traffickers manipulate adolescents and youth into the sex trafficking through targeting their emotional vulnerabilities. To begin, traffickers use threats, intimidation and violence to enforce or entice adolescents into trafficking. One adolescent, a runaway from Baltimore County, Maryland, is gang raped by a group of men associated with the trafficker, who thereafter executes a “rescue” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011) Following the “rescue”, the trafficker imposes she recompense him by working for him as one of his prostitutes (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). Unfortunately, in many cases youth are generally beaten up until they yield to the trafficker’s orders (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011).

Various American children are snatched up from locations the majority of parents permit them to go. Places, such as, the mall, the beach, even the driveways in their own front yards. Places assumed to be safe by preponderance.