The Effectiveness of Victim Resistance Strategies against Stranger Child Abduction: An Analysis of Attempted and Completed Cases

Existing research, policy information, and materials intended to teach child safety assumes that certain behaviours will protect children in the event that a stranger tries to abduct them. However, there is little empirical basis for these assumptions. This paper examines the effectiveness of strategies thought to increase the likelihood that a child will be able to resist an attempted stranger child abduction event. Seventy-eight cases of stranger child abduction that occurred in the UK between 1988 and 2014, including 25 attempted cases and 53 completed cases, were examined in order to ascertain the relative prevalence of various resistance types and to assess their effectiveness of six key resistance strategies based on whether the presence or absence affected the outcome of the abduction. Results show that direct, unequivocal verbal resistance, running away, and a composite approach where the victim runs away, calls for help, and reports the offence were highly effective means of resisting an offender, whereas physical resistance, indirect verbal resistance, and non-resistance were not effective. Female victims were almost twice as likely to employ any kind of resistance strategy against an offender as male victims were. The implications of these findings for augmenting ways in which children are taught about safety are discussed. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.