scholarly journals How Far Do They Go?: A Spatial Examination of Missing Persons from Hospitals

Author(s):  
Lorna Ferguson ◽  
Jacek Koziarski
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-15
Author(s):  
Pier Matteo Barone ◽  
Rosa Maria Di Maggio ◽  
Silvia Mesturini

Despite widespread concern over missing persons, there has always been little clarity on what the word “missing” means. Although the category of young runaways is, indeed, an important cluster, other popular concepts related to disappearances describe a portion of missing persons. Thus, the following question persists: What exactly does “missing” mean? In this brief communication, we would like to open a discussion about the social phenomenon of missing persons and the consequent deployment of people and techniques to find those persons. In particular, the benefits of some forensic geoarchaeological approaches that are not yet fully standardized will be highlighted, such as geographic profiling and the use of multispectral satellite images, in order to provide materials for future searching protocols.


Author(s):  
Lorna Ferguson

Missing person reports from hospitals and mental health facilities are a significant issue impacting patients, communities, and health and police sectors. Research on missing persons seldom considers the type of location from where people go missing, which can be troublesome due to the increased chances for experiencing harm during an episode from hospitals and mental health facilities. When location type is studied, these often remarkably different places are frequently blended together in analyses and discussions. This conflation has implications for research and the development of effective police preventive responses. To begin to address this gap, this study uses descriptive analysis and logistic regression to examine the descriptive and predictive profiles of those reported missing from hospitals versus those reported missing from mental health units. For this, data are taken from a sample of 916 closed missing person cases reported to a Canadian municipal police service over five years. Results suggest there are significant differences in both the descriptive and predictive profiles of individuals reported missing from these two location types, such as individuals with varying mental health and cognitive issues going missing from each place, respectively. Given the findings, the implications for research, policing, and risk management are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 99 (905) ◽  
pp. 709-733
Author(s):  
Grażyna Baranowska

AbstractThis article analyzes the evolution in international law of the obligation to search for and return the remains of forcibly disappeared and missing persons. Receiving the remains of forcibly disappeared and missing persons is one of the primary needs of their families, who bring the issue to international courts and non-judicial mechanisms. This obligation has been incrementally recognized and developed by different human rights courts, which have included the obligation to search for and return the remains of disappeared persons in their remedies. In parallel to the development of the obligation by international courts, the international community has begun to become more involved in assisting in return of the remains of forcibly disappeared and missing persons to their families.


1961 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-255
Author(s):  
F. H. Fisher
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qianru Tiffany Yang ◽  
Kathryn A. Leech ◽  
Paul L. Harris

2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110543
Author(s):  
Ori Katz

This paper discusses the case of missing persons in Israel, to show how the category of “missingness” is constructed by the people who have been left behind, and how this may threaten the life-death dichotomy assumption. The field of missing persons in Israel is characterized not only by high uncertainty, but also by the absence of relevant cultural scripts. Based on a narrative ethnography of missingness in Israel, I claim that a new and subversive social category of “missingness” can be constructed following the absence of cultural scripts. The left-behinds fluctuate not only between different assumptions about the missing person’s fate; they also fluctuate between acceptance of the life-death dichotomy, thus yearning for a solution to a temporary in-between state, and blurring this dichotomy, and thus constructing “missingness” as a new stable and subversive ontological category. Under this category, new rites of passage are also negotiated and constructed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 138-150
Author(s):  
Mark Taylor ◽  
Denis Reilly

Purpose This paper aims to present the application of situation calculus for knowledge representation in missing persons investigations. Design/methodology/approach The development of a knowledge representation model for the missing persons investigation process based upon situation calculus, with a demonstration of the use of the model for a missing persons example case. Findings Situation calculus is valuable for knowledge representation for missing persons investigations, as such investigations have state changes over time, and due to the complexity of the differing investigation activities applicable to different situations, can be difficult to represent using simpler approaches such as tables or flowcharts. Research limitations/implications Situation calculus modelling for missing persons investigations adds formalism to the process beyond that which can be afforded by the current use of text, tables or flowcharts. The additional formalism is useful in dealing with the uncertainty present in such investigations. Practical implications The implications are a simplification of the application of the current police guidelines, and thoroughness in the application of such guidelines for missing persons investigations via situation calculus modelling. Social implications This paper supports the management of missing person investigations, by using the most critical variables in a missing persons investigation to determine relevant investigation and search activities applicable to the circumstances of a given case. Originality/value The novelty of the knowledge representation approach is the application of situation calculus via state and action vectors and a matrix of fluents to the process of missing persons investigations.


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