Gender, Age and Victimization Risk Among Missing Persons
| Published date | 01 October 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/25166069241289288 |
| Author | Lorna Ferguson,Michelle N. Eliasson |
| Date | 01 October 2024 |
Gender, Age and
Victimization Risk
Among Missing Persons
Lorna Ferguson1 and Michelle N. Eliasson2
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the risk of victimization among
missing persons and the ways in which gender and age shape this relationship.
From a sample of 1,847 missing persons reports, multiple logistic regression
was used to estimate victimization risk when missing, disaggregated by gender
and age group and including vulnerability factors (i.e., the reasons for victimiza-
tion risk). Results reveal that female missing persons compared to males and
children/youths compared to adults had significantly increased odds of victimi-
zation risk. Vulnerability factors statistically significantly associated with vic-
timization risk for females compared to males and children/youths compared
to adults included transientness, victimization experiences (e.g., domestic vio-
lence, human trafficking), going repeatedly missing and mental health concerns.
The findings suggest that victimization risk for missing persons varies along
gender and age lines. This study contributes to the literature addressing the
paucity of studies that apply exposure and opportunity theories to understand
victimization risk when missing split by demographic characteristics. Thus, its
novelty lies in advancing the victimology literature to the study of missing per-
sons, and in discovering nuances in the relationship between victimization risk
and going missing.
Keywords
Missing persons, victimization risk, routine activity/lifestyle-exposure theory,
gender, age
Original Article
Journal of Victimology
and Victim Justice
7(2) 168–190, 2024
2024 The Author(s)
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/25166069241289288
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1 Department of Sociology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
2 Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, Iona University, New Rochelle, New York, United
States
Corresponding author:
Lorna Ferguson, Department of Sociology, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
E-mail: lfergu5@uwo.ca
Ferguson and Eliasson 169
Introduction
Since their introduction in the 1970s, routine activity theory and lifestyle-
exposure theory have had considerable influence on the study of victimization
due to a primary premise of these related approaches: Victimization risk varies
across demographic groups because people in these populations engage in differ-
ent activities and make different life choices.1,2,3 As a result, over the last several
decades, it has been well-documented that gender and age (among other demo-
graphics) are correlated with the risk, rates, types and outcomes of victimization
across various related issues, including female versus male gang member victimi-
zation risk, hot spots of youth crime and the gender gap in intimate partner
homicide.1,4,5,6,7 For instance, the latter has uncovered that men, compared to
women, are more likely to experience violence by a non-intimate partner, and
women are at greater risk than men of being violently victimized by an intimate
partner.5,8,9,10 However, one issue largely unexplored in this literature is missing
persons.
A small but notable proportion of people experience harm, vulnerability and
victimization related to going missing.11,12 While most missing persons are located
alive and unharmed and/or return within 24 to 48 hours, there is a percentage that
does not and instead come to experience assault, exploitation, self-harm, suicide
1 Michael J. Hindelang et al., Victims of Personal Crime: An Empirical Foundation for a Theory
of Personal victimization, (1978), https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/
virtual-library/abstracts/victims-personal-crime-empirical-foundation-theory-personal
2 & , Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity
Approach, in 203 (Routledge 2010).
3 Jackson Bunch et al., Demographic Characteristics and Victimization Risk: Testing the Mediating
Effects of Routine Activities, 61 1181 (2015).
4 , Hot Spots of Juvenile Crime: A Longitudinal Study of Arrest Incidents at
Street Segments in Seattle, Washington, 25 . 443 (2009).
5 Gender Differences in Risk Factors for Violent
Victimization: An Examination of Individual-, Family-, and Community-level Predictors, 48
538(2011).
6 Kathleen Fox, Gangs, Gender, and Violent Victimization, 12 43 (2017).
7 Janet L. Lauritsen & Maribeth L. Rezey, Victimization Trends and Correlates: Macro- and
Microinfluences and New Directions for Research, 1 103 (2018).
8
9 Intimate Partner Violence: Prevalence, Types, and Chronicity in Adult
Women, 30 . 447 (2006).
10 Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence. US Department of
Justice, (2000), https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181867.pdf
11 Targeting Missing Persons Most Likely to Come to Harm Among
92,681 Cases Reported to Devon and Cornwall Police, 4 160
(2020).
12 Police Risk Assessment and Case Outcomes in Missing Person
Investigations, 96 390 (2023).
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