| Missing persons are many and greatly varied; they can | | | | have a false impression that a person must be missing |
| become missing for any number of different reasons. | | | | for 72 hours (three days) before legally termed as a |
| Someone who has disappeared for a long time, with | | | | "missing" person. However, this is seldom the case. In |
| no apparent reason, is generally termed as a "missing" | | | | circumstances where there is evidence of unusual |
| person. Typically, a photograph of the missing person is | | | | absence or violence, law enforcement agencies |
| posted on postcards, bulletin boards, and websites, | | | | regularly emphasize the importance of starting a |
| with a contact number to call if anyone comes see an | | | | prompt investigation. Usually, if a person has gone |
| individual resembling the picture. The reasons for such | | | | missing for seven years, without any evidence to |
| disappearances can be varied: runaway; throw away | | | | prove otherwise, he or she is deemed as "legally |
| (abandoned children); kidnapping or abduction; slavery; | | | | dead." |
| wage slavery; child pornography; prostitution (often in | | | | Every year, around the world, a million people are |
| combination with drug addiction); child stealing; serfdom; | | | | reported missing. About nine of every ten missing |
| sweat shop work service; unfree labor; shanghaiing; or | | | | people are eventually found. The rest are labeled |
| simply running away. | | | | "missing." In America, the intensity of the law |
| In the United States, there is an average of over | | | | enforcement in the area of missing people has |
| 100,000 reported cases of people missing annually; | | | | increased in recent times. |
| eight of every ten cases are children. Generally, people | | | | |