U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 5771. Findings

The Congress finds that—

(1) each year thousands of children are abducted or removed from the control of a parent having legal custody without such parent’s consent, under circumstances which immediately place the child in grave danger;

(2) many missing children are at great risk of both physical harm and sexual exploitation;

(3) in many cases, parents and local law enforcement officials have neither the resources nor the expertise to mount expanded search efforts;

(4) abducted children are frequently moved from one locality to another, requiring the cooperation and coordination of local, State, and Federal law enforcement efforts;

(5) growing numbers of children are the victims of child sexual exploitation, increasingly involving the use of new technology to access the Internet;

(6) children may be separated from their parents or legal guardians as a result of national disasters such as hurricanes and floods;

(7) sex offenders pose a threat to children;

(8) the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention administers programs under this chapter through the Child Protection Division, including programs which prevent or address offenses committed against vulnerable children and which support missing children’s organizations; and

(9) a key component of such programs is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which—

(A) serves as a national resource center and clearinghouse;

(B) works in partnership with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of State, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and many other agencies in the effort to find missing children and prevent child victimization; and

(C) operates a national network, linking the Center online with each of the missing children clearinghouses operated by the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as with international organizations, including Scotland Yard in the United Kingdom, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon, France, and others, which enable the Center to transmit images and information regarding missing and exploited children to law enforcement across the United States and around the world instantly.

Tips