Repost
I haven't posted much lately mainly because I've been revisiting data regarding missing children in Virginia. This piece was originally posted about 8 months ago based on the incredible data analysis by Den Skjult from 2016. In returning to the topic I've stumbled across some startling data which I'll be exploring in a follow up. The repost is a good refresher and overview of the perplexing rates of missing children in the state of Virginia.
NCMEC Funding
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) recei)ves the majority of their funding from the US government’s Missing and Exploited Children (MEC) program. From the 2008 Congressional Research Service (CRS):
The 2008 CRS report released by Wikileaks in 2009, demonstrates that US government agencies throw money at the NCMEC even without receiving a request for funding.
Source: Wikileaks Downloadable PDFs
Missing Children, Missing Statistics
Finding reliable statistics on missing people (adults and children) is not an easy task. The FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) releases annual missing person and unidentified person statistics. However, the way in which the data is categorizes makes it difficult for the average person to make sense of.
Statistical categories include ‘file transactions’, ‘records entered’, ‘records removed’, ‘clears & cancels’, ‘locates’ and ‘modified’. Being a layman, I will assume that ‘records entered’ represents new cases of missing persons. So, this would mean that in 2016 there were 647, 435 missing persons logged as ‘records entered’. Now bear in mind that these are reported cases only. Unfortunately, these statistics do not give us any specific information about missing children or from where people went missing.
Source: FBI / NCIC
The States with the Most Missing Person Cases
This 2015 national infographic from the Huffington Post was apparently created by compiling 2014 state statistics. According to the infograph, the states with the highest rate of open missing persons cases per 100,000 people are Arizona, Alaska and Oregon.
Inevitably, reliable statistics on missing children are also difficult to come by. The NCMEC doesn’t make complete and comprehensible statistics on missing children accessible to the public. There may be good reason for this and although general information is provided, raw data on national rates is not readily available.
If you query “rates of missing children by state” into a search engine the results are less than satisfactory. Most sites will direct you to the NCMEC website or take you to a single state webpage that may have incomplete data.
One particular webpage caught my eye, however, an [IWB] (http://investmentwatchblog.com) piece entitled: Unexplained rates of missing children around Washington DC.
Unfortunately, this article may have been scrubbed from the net, when you click on the link you get the ubiquitous message:
Error 404 Page Not Found
Key Facts Regarding Missing Children
According to the NCMEC, it’s impossible to determine the total number of missing children accurately because many cases of missing children go unreported. Another reason why reliable statistics are hard to determine is that when a child runs away on multiple occasions, each instance is recorded as a separate event.
We can find statistics on missing children by following this link:
http://www.missingkids.com/KeyFacts
According to the FBI, in 2016 there were 465,676 NCIC entries for missing children. Similarly, in 2015, the total number of missing children entries into NCIC was 460,699.
It’s estimated that 800, 000 children go missing in America every year and 8 million children go missing worldwide.
In the introduction for an ICMEC annual report, Ernie Allen (former CEO of NCMEC) states:
8 million children go missing every year
2 million children will be sexually exploited
300 million children in this generation will be victimized sexually before they reach adulthood.
100 million males are sexually attracted to young children
“These shameful numbers require action.”
Just how the NCMEC determines the sexual desires of 100 million males is not elaborated on. Perhaps it is in relation to internet habits and downloading of child pornography but even still the number seems very high and somewhat arbitrary.
For addition general facts on missing children see factretriever.com
Despite the common belief that children are taken by strangers, experts say that this type of child abduction makes up only a very small percent of cases. According to the director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, David Finkelhor:
Far more common are children who have run away, have gotten lost or injured, have been taken by a family member (usually in a custody dispute) or simply aren’t where they’re expected to be because of a miscommunication. The only scenario more unusual than stereotypical kidnapping is when families falsely report a child as missing to disguise murderous deeds.
Source: Washington Post Op-Ed
Virginia: The Bermuda Triangle of Missing Children
There’s something strange going on in Virginia. Although the US government does not provide statistics showing state-by-state comparisons of missing children, researchers have been able to piece together a composite map drawing from the data that is publicly available.
In December of last year, Virginia resident and researcher, Den Skjult, did some number crunching using statistics provided on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). What he uncovered was that the rate of missing children per 100,000 people was disproportionately high in Virginia in 2016. In fact, Virginia topped the list for missing children per 100, 000 people doubling the rates in both New York and California. According to Den Skjult’s calculations, nearly 20% of all reported missing children in 2016 originated in Virginia.
In this video, Den Skjult discusses his research with YouTuber Rainbow Sally.
Washington DC has a population of roughly 675, 000 people. There were only 2 reported cases of missing children in 2016. The closest major US city is Baltimore Maryland. The state population is approximately 6 million people. There were 28 reported cases of missing children for the year 2016.
In a state-to-state comparison, Pennsylvania (est. pop. 13 million) reported 41 missing children for the period. While Virginia (est. pop. 8.4 million) reported 315 missing children.
With a rate of 3.76 missing children per 100, 000 people, Virginia far exceeds all other states in the nation.
Virginia – 315 missing – 3.76 / 100,000
Florida – 177 missing - 0.87 / 100, 000
Texas – 151 missing - 0.55 / 100, 000
California – 162 missing – 0.41 / 100, 000
New York – 74 missing – 0.37 / 100, 000
Are the numbers skewed? Skjult concedes that it’s possible that the numbers are not entirely accurate as some states / counties / cities may have not entered/submitted their data to the NCMEC or NCIC. It’s quite possible that Virginia diligently submits their data while other states are submitting incomplete data sets. Therefore, incomplete data could account for some discrepancies.
Virginia: Home to the NCMEC and ICMEC
It’s interesting to note that the headquarters for both the NCMEC and the ICMEC are located just outside Washington DC in Alexandria Virginia. The NCMEC spearheads the national effort to combat the exploitation of children, child abuse, kidnappings and human trafficking.
The NCMEC acts as a national clearing house for missing children and provides a searchable database profiling children who have disappeared. Incredibly, there are more children who have gone missing in Alexandria (13), Fairfax (27), Manassas (20), Newport (20), Virginia Beach (18) and Richmond (44) than those that have gone missing in DC (2).
Comparatively, Los Angeles reported 54 missing children in 2016 yet the population of (metro) Los Angeles is close to 19 million while Richmond Virginia has a population of about 210, 000 residents.
The area of Norfolk and Virginia Beach also appears to be a hotbed for missing children.
http://hamptonroads.com/newsdata/crime/virginia-beach/type/missing-person
NCMEC Database Virginia
By entering a name, date, location or a combination of the three into the NCMEC searchable database we can bring up individual profiles of missing children.
Here’s a screenshot of some of the profiles of missing children in Virginia. As you can see there are a number of profiles that are missing key information such as: a photo, date of birth or age of the missing child.
Link to NCMEC missing page - Virginia
Conclusion
While the 2016 data is intriguing, the researcher mentions in the video that the years preceding the data set are more uniform and do not show disproportionate rates in Virginia. It makes you wonder; were the results from 2016 just a result of poor reporting and incomplete data entries? Or was there something more sinister going on in Virginia during that time? If we're to trust the experts in the field, such as Finkelhor, then the anomalies of 2016 can be explained by increases in runaways, injuries and miscommunication. So, move along. Nothing to see here.
This is a very powerful piece of sharing you giving us to digest...
I also noticed how here, in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, the numbers are seemingly rising without much alarms going off... It is baffling! the data you shared with us is scary and demands action, as you say, urgently!
Thanks a, lot for putting your finger on the pulse of this horrid situation. Exposing it here can only help I suppose, especially on the long run. Thank you and namaste :)
That is indeed disturbing as I have visited that wonderful Island of yours.
I have more to share as I'm working on a follow up that honestly blew me away.
On a side note, I really enjoyed your posts about lucid dreaming, fascinating stuff!
I appreciate you taking the time to comment here.
Namaste to you as well
Thank you so very much, I really appreciate your words @v4vapid, and will stay tuned for more on your research concerning this series of your... Maybe it will include some of our area too? One way or another, it does touch us all. Thanks for helping shed light on these atrocities.
Namaste :)
The numbers are staggering but worse is the lack of action and under reporting. It's also shocking to see 10% of the children that go missing worldwide go missing in the USA which should be on the front page of every newspaper. You can't sweep this stuff under the rug it needs to be dealt with.
Great post buddy.
Wow! @v4vapid, is this real? Virginia of all states? This is some hot conspiracy brewing in the background. So many of these missing without a trace. What could be the real problem behind this? Who do we hold liable/responsible? The president? The governor? Virginia has to wake up and stick out for herself and we all shall support her!
The stats are very alarming coming out of a state with a relatively small population. Precise numbers are very difficult to estimate and the original researcher cautions that the data may be incomplete. However, there does seem to be an abnormally high rate of missing children in the region. The research I've done for the upcoming follow up post is really quite shocking.
This is great research, thank you for this link. I'd heard about the problem in National Parks but never in this depth. Thanks for commenting, very much appreciated ;)
I will wait for your follow-up post then. Thanks for sharing!
Well that's creepy I grew up partly in virginia. Also this is a lot of data I'm impressed.
Actually, I was hoping to hear from somebody who lives in Virginia. The data is pretty surprising, I'm guessing it's not something that's widely known or talked about. Have you been to the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area? What's it like over there?
I'm grew up for a long time in that area. I don't know of any missing persons personally, but my father has told me occasionally you get an amber alert on your phone every 3-6 months about a missing minor.
Well, that is the reality but very few people care about that. The reason states do not do anything about this is because of the lack of resources.
Generally, the kidnapped children are taken away far from where they were born. So, the new areas care little about the "outsiders" or don't want to spend resources on it.
Very good point, a lack of resources is definitely a major factor. What interests me here is that the NCMEC is very well funded receiving millions from the US gov, they use cutting edge software created by Palantir but they cannot produce a comprehensive list of missing children.
Michigan too right now - check you tube for people giving warnings on it.
I'm not really aware of a situation in Michigan, but will look into this. Thanks for the tip!
Saudi Arabia Prince got taken out first!
It's happening folks!
#DrainTheSwamp
Takedown Of The Clinton Crime Syndicate Begins — Steemit https://steemit.com/clinton/@fighterone/takedown-of-the-clinton-crime-syndicate-begins
Reshared @phibetaiota
Looking forward to the follow up posts.
Great work!
~The MGT
thank you for your excellent job.
missing rate is unbelievable.
I didn't know about missing child problem.
thank you again
Thanks for reading! It's kept out of the news and only from doing my own research was I able to discover just how widespread this really is. I can't tell you why children are disappearing in such high numbers, I can only guess but I think more people should be aware of this problem and especially if you live in Viriginia.
Another excellent post on a very important and painful subject. I will sit down now and read the post carefully but I just had to UPvote and resteem immediately! Love your work mate! 😃
Thank you for bringing this to our attention @v4vapid There are also some deeply worrying missing children statistics in Europe and the UK (many from the care system) indeed this appears to be a worldwide plague. They have both privatised and are privatising many aspects of the social and care system. But any system that treats children as commodities does not deserve the right to have the word "care" in their title. I did hear some years back that the imprinting of missing children on milk cartons was in fact a nefarious ruse to normalise this exponential inrease in the perception of the public. I don't know the validity of this but knowing the sickness that has pervaded this world it's a sobering and disturbing thought. It's equally disturbing how the horror of trafficking is often hidden within layer upon layer of statistics. Whilst I'm certainly not suggesting all children are trafficked or abused the numbers you relay here are deeply troubling. Thank you for bringing this information to our attention for a light needs to be shone in even the darkest of places.
Thanks for such a thoughtful reply,
This problem is definitely not confined to Virginia or the United States and from what I gather children who pass through CPS and foster homes are among the most targeted for abuse. Similar to your thoughts about missing profiles on milk cartons, I have serious doubts in the mission and effectiveness of institutions that claim to defend/locate/care for missing and/or abused children.
What I've discovered in looking at Virginia and other states is that the numbers are obscured / incomplete / or absent - if institutions that are well funded cannot even come up with state by state statistics, how are they ever going to effectively combat child trafficking, abuse and the likes?
I have a follow up in the works that is just as shocking in terms of statistics, please keep an eye out for that.
No problem in the slightest @v4vapid such diligent research of a subject that has remained hidden for far too long deserves an appropriate comment. As much as it saddens me to say, I think to a degree all of these institutions have been infiltrated. I will certainly be keeping an eye out for the follow up and I applaud your dedication to such a difficult subject, respect to you. Sorry to add this on here but I just noticed you'd upvoted/resteemed my post and I want to say thank you!
Maybe they could move their state a little further away from D.C.
Or, maybe we could build a wall on our borders to protect us aggressive foreigners trying to destroy our nation. The 69 sq. miles of foreign occupied soil, on the Potomac is where we should start.
lol
Better hunt those pedophiles. Where's my shotgun?
Can you say Pizza Gate?
Singapore is where the pedophiles gol. Child prostitution is rampant there....in the "cleanest" country.
Crimes against Children...unforgivable!
That is some great work @v4vapid. I really appreciate the hard work you have done on this article.
Never I've read until now about missing children's. What I have in my mind now is how it's possible to have 8 million children go missing every year. This is bad...very bad!
Thanks for sharing!
good
Gr8 post.......
oh no...dont wary... hard work you have done on this article.
Upvote for upvote, comment for comment, follow for follow - my job is done I followed and upvoted you already! Check out my Steemit blog here http://steemit.com/@anurag222 - Please follow my lead and do the same for others here in the group. We are all here to help each other out. Steem On! Thanks
Salam
By @said-nuruzzaman
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing the article. It is quite the pain for one family to lose their child. I'm going to write an article in my next series about a Place called the Hypogeum, told to be one mystical place where children get lost within the tunnels.
Man that is crazy... sounds like something fishy is going on.
As a Norfolk, Virginian I have to follow your page! I really like your content because it literally is hitting close to home! where in Va are you located? The 7 cities?