| Congressional
Authorization for
the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was
established in 1984 as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization working
in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice to find missing children,
reduce the incidence of child sexual exploitation and prevent child victimization.
NCMEC is authorized by Congress to perform the following 19 specific
tasks (see 42 U.S.C. § 5773):
- Operate the official national resource center and information clearinghouse
for missing and exploited children.
- Operate a national 24-hour toll-free telephone line by which individuals
may report information regarding the location of any missing child,
and request information pertaining to procedures necessary to reunite
such child with such child's legal custodian; and coordinate the operation
of such telephone line with the operation of the national communications
system referred to in part C of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.
- Provide to State and local governments, and public and
private nonprofit agencies, and individuals, information regarding--
(i)
free or low-cost legal, restaurant, lodging, and transportation
services that are available for the benefit of missing and exploited
children and their families;
(ii) the existence and nature of programs
being carried out by Federal agencies to assist missing and exploited
children and their families.
- Coordinate public and private programs
that locate, recover, or reunite missing children with their families.
- Disseminate, on a national basis, information relating to innovative
and model programs, services, and legislation that benefit missing
and exploited children.
- Based solely on reports received by the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and not
involving any data collection by NCMEC other than the receipt of those
reports, annually provide to the Department of Justice's Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention--
(i) the number of children
nationwide who are reported to NCMEC as missing;
(ii) the number of
children nationwide who are reported to NCMEC as victims of non-family
abductions;
(iii) the number of children nationwide who are reported
to NCMEC as victims of parental kidnappings; and
(iv) the number of
children recovered nationwide whose recovery was reported to NCMEC.
- Provide, at the request of State and local governments,
and public and private nonprofit agencies, guidance on how to facilitate
the lawful use of school records and birth certificates to identify
and locate missing children.
- Provide technical assistance and training
to law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, elements
of the criminal justice system, public and private nonprofit agencies,
and individuals in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and
treatment of cases involving missing and exploited children;
- Provide
assistance to families and law enforcement agencies in locating and
recovering missing and exploited children, both nationally and, in
cooperation with the Department of State, internationally.
- Provide analytical
support and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies through
searching public records databases in locating and recovering missing
and exploited children and helping to locate and identify abductors.
- Provide direct on-site technical assistance and consultation to
law enforcement agencies in child abduction and exploitation cases.
- Provide forensic technical assistance and consultation
to law enforcement and other agencies in the identification of unidentified
deceased children through facial reconstruction of skeletal remains
and similar techniques.
- Track the incidence of attempted child abductions
in order to identify links and patterns, and provide such information
to law enforcement agencies.
- Provide training and assistance to
law enforcement agencies in identifying and locating non-compliant
sex offenders.
- Facilitate the deployment of the National Emergency
Child Locator Center to assist in reuniting missing children with their
families during periods of national disasters.
- Operate a cyber tipline
to provide online users and electronic service providers an effective
means of reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in the
areas of--
(i) possession, manufacture, and distribution of child pornography;
(ii) online enticement of children for sexual acts;
(iii) child prostitution;
(iv) sex tourism involving children;
(v) extrafamilial child sexual molestation;
(vi) unsolicited obscene material sent to a child;
(vii) misleading domain names; and
(viii) misleading words or digital images on the Internet,
and subsequently
to transmit such reports, including relevant images and information,
to the appropriate international, Federal, State or local law enforcement
agency for investigation;
- Work with law enforcement, Internet service
providers, electronic payment service providers, and others on methods
to reduce the distribution on the Internet of images and videos of
sexually exploited children;
- Operate a child victim identification
program in order to assist the efforts of law enforcement agencies
in identifying victims of child pornography and other sexual crimes;
- Develop and disseminate programs and information to the general
public, schools, public officials, youth-serving organizations, and
nonprofit organizations, directly or through grants or contracts with
public agencies and public and private nonprofit organizations, on--
(i)
the prevention of child abduction and sexual exploitation; and
(ii)
internet safety.
Revised December 14, 2011
|
Privacy Policy
