United States Statistics

- A child goes missing every 40 seconds in the U.S., over 2,100 per day

- 800,000 children go missing each year  

- 90% are juveniles

- 50% are 4 to 11 years old

- Strangers commit 53% of abductions that end tragically

- It generally takes a parent 2 to 4 hours to provide complete information to law enforcement agencies

- Another 500,000 go missing without ever being reported

According to the U.S. Department of Justice

74% of tragic outcomes after a child abduction occurred within three hours of being taken. One study of stranger abductions showed that 44% of the cases ended tragically within the first hour. By the third hour, it was 74%, and within 24 hours, 91%.

How effective has Amber Alert been?

AMBER Alert has been very effective. AMBER Alert programs have helped save the lives of over 350 children nationwide. Over 90 percent of those recoveries have occurred since October 2002 when President Bush called for the appointment of an AMBER Alert Coordinator at the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children.

AMBER Alerts serve as deterrents to those who would prey upon our children. AMBER Alert cases have shown that some perpetrators release the abducted child after hearing the AMBER Alert on the radio or seeing it on television.