Study Background
The primary goal of the study was to provide further insight into whether and how the criminal justice system intervenes in parental abduction cases by collecting data on the following:
- National estimates of parental abduction
reports to law enforcement authorities
and resulting arrests.
- National estimates of parental abduction
cases which were opened by prosecutors
and in which criminal charges
were filed.
- Law enforcement authorities' use of
management information systems
(MISs) and written policies and procedures
in responding to parental abduction
reports.
- Staffing characteristics and administrative
resources.
- Staff participation in formal training or
special programs addressing parental
abduction.
- Parental abduction case flow through
the criminal justice system.
- Characteristics of cases in which law
enforcement intervened by investigating
and/or filing criminal complaints.
- Model approaches to the handling of parental abduction cases.
- Phase 1: A nationally representative
survey of law enforcement agencies
and prosecutors' offices.
- Phase 2: Site visits to six counties
where a larger than average number
of parental abduction cases were
prosecuted.
- Phase 3: A review of individual parental abduction case files in the law enforcement agencies and prosecutors' offices of three of the six jurisdictions visited.
The study examined all facets of the criminal
justice system's response, including
the reporting of the incident, investigation
of the case, location and recovery of the
child, and criminal prosecution of the abductor(s). The site visits provided insight
into various aspects of unique programs,
and the national survey and case file reviews
attempted to identify those characteristics
that resulted in an enhanced system
response. Based on these findings,
the researchers developed recommendations
for statutory, policy, and programmatic
change. The study described in this
Bulletin concluded in 1996 and is based
on parental abduction data from 1992 to
1996. Nevertheless, the study findings and
recommendations continue to be relevant
to current incidents of parental abduction.
OJJDP has chosen to highlight the findings
of this study because, to date, this is one
of the most comprehensive studies of
the Nation's criminal justice system's response
to the crime of parental abduction.
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