I put this together for someone I contacted about this who expressed doubts that police in the past refused to take missing persons reports and all missing persons reports were not put into the national databases. I also sent a link to the article on the Moorestown girl dismissed as a runaway (link found in this thread).
This article, http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/articles/nj-law-requires-police-to-take-missing-person-reports is about a NJ law passed in 2008 requiring that police take missing persons reports. It does not say they have to at some point place those people on the national missing persons databases. The article indicates that there are over 1,500 missing persons and 272 unidentified bodies in NJ. There are 147 missing people and 257 unidentified bodies listed on the NJ State Police's Missing Persons site. Given that the number of unidentified bodies may have gone down since the article was written, it seems that it is much more likely that a body will be added to the databases. The number of missing most surely has changed too, but I doubt it went from 1,500 to 272 in 5 years. Anyone that police refused to take a missing persons report on, because they were "runaways" or adults that left on their own, would not have made it into the tally at all.
I had noticed what appears to be a statistical anomaly for NJ in this search before. Looking at the Doe Network for missing women for all of the 1980s, I get an answer of NONE! There are 11 missing men. Either women were much safer than in other states, their cases were cleared faster than men's, or their disappearances were not taken as seriously. If I had the statistical chops, I would love to compare the number of reported missings to the population across states. It might help highlight where the missing missings are.
This article, http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/articles/nj-law-requires-police-to-take-missing-person-reports is about a NJ law passed in 2008 requiring that police take missing persons reports. It does not say they have to at some point place those people on the national missing persons databases. The article indicates that there are over 1,500 missing persons and 272 unidentified bodies in NJ. There are 147 missing people and 257 unidentified bodies listed on the NJ State Police's Missing Persons site. Given that the number of unidentified bodies may have gone down since the article was written, it seems that it is much more likely that a body will be added to the databases. The number of missing most surely has changed too, but I doubt it went from 1,500 to 272 in 5 years. Anyone that police refused to take a missing persons report on, because they were "runaways" or adults that left on their own, would not have made it into the tally at all.
I had noticed what appears to be a statistical anomaly for NJ in this search before. Looking at the Doe Network for missing women for all of the 1980s, I get an answer of NONE! There are 11 missing men. Either women were much safer than in other states, their cases were cleared faster than men's, or their disappearances were not taken as seriously. If I had the statistical chops, I would love to compare the number of reported missings to the population across states. It might help highlight where the missing missings are.