The worst nightmare of most parents is to have a missing child. Every year, thousands of children, aged birth to 18 years, are reported missing to law enforcement agencies. High profile abduction cases, such as those of Jimmy Ryce Elizabeth Smart have fueled the fears of parents and caretakers, and possibly led to a false perception of how infrequently child abduction by strangers actually occurs.
When children are reported missing, it could be for several reasons: running away, parental abandonment, abduction by a family member, abduction by a stranger, being lost, an injury, sexual victimization, and false alarm situations in which there has been a miscommunication about the child's location. Abduction by a family member is the most common type of child abduction. These situations most commonly occur when the parents are in the process of separating or have already divorced. A parent may kidnap the child because he or she does not want to allow the child to go on a designated visit with the other parent (or alternatively, to have to return the child following such a visit) or even simply to be spiteful towards the other parent. Occasionally, a stranger will abduct a small child - usually a baby - for the purposes of rearing it as her own. These heavily publicized cases often occur after a woman fakes a pregnancy; she then stages a kidnapping of a newborn in the generally misguided belief that others will think she gave birth to the child.
Sex crimes, especially child sex offenses, concern parents throughout Florida. The likelihood of a child being abducted for purposes of rape or molestation and murder are slim, but not impossible. Nationally, between 200 and 300 children are abducted into situations in which their lives are at risk. More, however, become the victims of sex crimes, whether or not the child was actually abducted.
If you have been accused of a sex crime in the Florida, contact the statewide criminal attorneys at Musca Law.
