Laws & Legislation

Laws and legislation dedicated to resolving missing black girls and women cases are unjustifiably low. As stated in the 2010 study by Seong-Jae Min and John C. Feaster that states that, “remedies for missing people exist for almost every group except Black girls and women, thus demanding the creation of a tailored remedy to address this neglected group…An evaluation of existing legislation and missing persons advocacy makes very clear that current laws and policies are failing at protecting missing Black girls and women.”Because there is a lack of news coverage for black women and girls there is less legislation for it. The police are constantly putting people of color into their own categories and runaway is one of the main examples.

MISSING VS. RUNAWAYS

“ a person labeled as a “runaway” may be an exception to this law, and would thus allow

law enforcement to delay response and investigation into a potential

missing persons case.”

When it comes to young people of color going missing the authorities constantly delay any inforements causing these children to be in more danger than someone that has gone missing; when the runaway label is supposed to enforce the opposite. The authorities make it seem like the the children aren’t in harms way, when in reality them being labeled as runaways causes them to be seen as targets for sex trafficing and murder.

RIYLA ALERT

In 2003, the Florida Legislature combined the RILYA Alert system with the Rilya Wilson Act. The RILYA Alert system would be an opportunity for alert systems to broaden their net of demographics being looked for. It would urge the police forces to go out and look for children of color instead of just labeling them as runaways. Sadly only Florida has adopted the RILYA Alert system.

AMBER ALERT

The AMBER Alert System was established in 1996, (in honor of a young white girl that was kidnapped and murdered in Texas). Opposite to the RILYA Alert the AMBER Alert system has been incorporated by all 50 states. It's also seen as the most well known law for missing persons legislation. Data has shown that the AMBER Alert is also misused and there is a disproportionate amount of black children looked for in comparison to other minorities and white children.

THE PROTECT ACT

The Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act, better known as the Protect Act, was established in 2003. This was said to be a piece of legislation that “strengthened law enforcement’s ability to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish violent crimes committed against children.”

THE PROTECT ACT

NamUS

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System better known as NamUs was established in 2005 as a joint result of the different levels of officials coming together to discuss the missing persons epidemic.

HSTNG

The Help Save The Next Girl or HSTNG was created by the parents of Morgan Harington to help bring awareness of the amount of missing girls and women in the US. Though their work is predominantly dedicated to getting young white women home they do have a page that discusses their dedication to bring black girls home as well. The page is dedicated to Alexis Murphy, one of the more predominantly known missing black girls in America.