The Bigger Picture

For two weeks all the British news programmes have run extensive coverage of the abduction of Madeleine McKann. It's an awful event which strikes a chilling chord, particularly for other parents. Today, I notice two other blogs which importantly point to the wider picture. Ellee Seymour has used the story to post other unsolved cases of missing children. We shouldn't forget this is not an isolated case.

....And Adrian Monck points to some revealing US research on child abduction.

Victims continue to be females slightly over 11 years of age, leading normal lives and living with normal families – typical low-risk victims. The initial contact between the victim and killer is still within ¼ mile of the victim’s residence.

The killers remain around 27 years old and are predominately unmarried, with half of them living either alone or with their parents. Half of them are unemployed, and those who are employed work in unskilled or semi-skilled occupations. More than half of these cases are initially reported to a law enforcement agency as a “missing child.”

Fast action is necessary since there is typically over a two-hour delay in making the initial missing child report, and the vast majority of the abducted children who are murdered are dead within three hours of the abduction.

Meanwhile the man identified as the "principal suspect" has still not been charged. And if he never is, or is categorically cleared of suspicion, there may be some questions to answer about the tone of coverage.

Comments

[Ellee]

Richard, thank you for plugging this too. Each of these disappearances is truly heartbreaking.