FBI National Crime Information Center Issues Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics for 2007

Today Assistant Director Thomas E. Bush, III, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division, released the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) missing person and unidentified person statistics for 2007. These statistics are derived from NCIC's Missing Person File, implemented in 1975 and NCIC's Unidentified Person File, implemented in 1983.

Highlights from the report include:

• As of December 31, 2007, there were 105,229 active missing person records in NCIC. Juveniles under the age of 18 accounted for 54,648 (51.93 percent) of the records, and 12,362 (11.75 percent) were for juveniles between the ages of 18 and 20.
• During 2007, 814,967 missing person records were entered into NCIC, a decrease of 2.53 percent from the 836,131 records entered in 2006.
• Missing person records cleared or canceled during 2007 totaled 820,212.
• In 2007, there were 518 records entered as Abducted by a Stranger; 299,787 entered as Runaway; and 2,919 entered as Abducted by Non-Custodial Parent. This only accounts for 303,224 entries of the 418,967 entered, or 72.4 percent, which is an increase from 297,632 entries of the 836,131 entered, or 35.6 percent, in 2006. However, as the Missing Person Circumstances field is optional and is thus not an accurate reflection of the actual circumstances of all the entries.
• As of December 31, 2007, there were 6,945 unidentified person records in NCIC. Of the 6,945 active entries, 1,788 (25.75 percent) were entered in 2007. This is up 26.54 percent from the 1,413 entries made in 2006.
• Unidentified person records entered in 2007 consisted of 1,448 (83.22 percent) deceased unidentified bodies, 23 (1.29 percent) unidentified catastrophe victims, and 317 (17.73 percent) living persons who could not ascertain their identity.
• There were 1,051 unidentified person records canceled or cleared by the entering agency for reasons such as the remains being identified or the record being invalid. This was an 11.31 percent decrease from the 1,185 records canceled in 2006.