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“THE INTRODUCTION OF THE MISSING CHILDREN'S ASSISTANCE AMENDMENT ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E505 on April 14, 2017.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE MISSING CHILDREN'S ASSISTANCE AMENDMENT ACT
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HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Friday, April 14, 2017
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Missing Children's Assistance Amendment Act of 2017, along with Congressional Black Caucus Chair Cedric Richmond (D-LA), House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls Co-Chair Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Karen Bass (D-CA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Andre Carson (D-IN), Maxine Waters (D-CA), John Lewis (D-GA), Robert Brady (D-PA), Frederica Wilson (D-FL), and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). The bill would require the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to collect and publish broad demographic characteristics, including race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, of missing children.
Congress has long recognized that missing children are a national problem. In 2013, Congress required OJJDP to conduct national incidence studies of missing children every three years instead of periodically. Such a study is now underway. However, my bill would require OJJDP to collect, break down, and publish demographic characteristics, including subgroups, of these missing children. It is critical that the public know if there is a disproportionate number of missing children of color, particularly missing girls of color, which may be an underreported national problem. Experts need to first measure the incidences, and then study whether children have been trafficked, abducted, are running away, or are missing for other reasons, and make recommendations.
The last national comprehensive study of missing children by OJJDP was based on a survey conducted in 1999, known as the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART-2). Currently, OJJDP is conducting a new study, known as NISMART-3. However, there is no statutory requirement that the triennial study collect or publish demographic characteristics of missing children. For instance, while NISMART-2 published race and gender data, it did not publish any subgroups, such as the number of girls of color missing.
It is more important than ever to have reliable statistics on missing children. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
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