Citation

Asdigian NL, Finkelhor D, Hotaling G. Crim. Justice Behav. 1995; 22(3): 215-232.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0093854895022003002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A sample of 396 cases of nonfamily abduction was extracted from police records in a national survey of law enforcement agencies. Incidents that fit the public stereotype of a kidnapping (children who were taken by strangers and kept for an extended period of time or moved a long distance) were much less prevalent than incidents that simply met legal definitions for abduction. The former--stereotypical abductions--also tended to involve more Caucasian preteen victims who were taken but not sexually assaulted. The majority of legal-definition abductions, in contrast, was characterized by the forcible sexual assault of teenage girls. Legal-definition abductions that did not involve sexual assault occurred in the context of a diverse range of other crimes, including robbery attempts, hijackings, acts of revenge, intimidation and terrorizing, and dating violence. The findings support the idea of distinguishing between stereotypical and legal-definition abducations and highlight the need to orient efforts aimed at the prevention of nonfamily abduction toward those at risk for sexual assault.

Language: en