VOLUME20, ISSUE 3, PAGES 80–102 (2019)
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society
E-ISSN 2332-886X
Available online at
https://scholasticahq.com/criminology-criminal-justice-law-society/
Corresponding author: Danielle Slakoff, PhD, Loyola University New Orleans, 6363 St. Charles Ave Campus Box 55 New
Orleans, LA, 70118, USA.
Email: dcsl[email protected]
Media Messages Surrounding Missing Women and Girls:
The “Missing White Woman Syndrome” and Other Factors that
Influence Newsworthiness
Danielle C. Slakoff ,
a
Henry F. Fradella
b
a
Loyola University Ne
w Orleans
b
Arizona State University
A B S T R A C T A N D A R T I C L E I N F O R M A T I O N
An analysis of news articles reveals a consistent trend: Missing White women and children are more likely to garner
media attention than missing minority women. The glorification of missing White women and children has been dubbed
the “Missing White Woman Syndrome.” Despite the popularity of this concept, few scholars have examined the
differential representation given to missing White and minority women and girls in the news media. This content
analysis explores whether the “Missing White Woman Syndrome” exists in print media and examines which other
factors—including age, job status, and motherhood status—influence story narratives. While missing White women and
children were overrepresented in the news and more likely to receive repeated coverage, the researchers found the media
used a Black missing woman or girl’s legitimate job status to humanize her. Indeed, stories about missing women and
children were significantly impacted by the missing person’s age and job status, and the media described some missing
women and girls as innocent while others were described in a salacious manner. The implications of the Missing White
Woman Syndrome’s existence for theory and professional practice in journalism and criminal justice, as well as those
for justice policy, are discussed.
Article History:
Received July 5, 2019
Received in revised form September 4,
2019
Accepted September 25, 2019
Keywords:
missing white woman syndrome, black feminist theory, media issues, race in mass
media, missing persons
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Media Messages Surrounding Missing Women
and Girls: The “Missing White Woman
Syndrome” and Other Factors that Influence
Newsworthiness
The pressure on U.S. media to maximize
ratings and, therefore, profits can readily conflict with
objectivity in journalism (An & Bergen, 2007). With
the exceptions of political firestorms, natural disasters,
and scandalous celebrity gossip, few events in the
United States consistently garner as much media
coverage as the disappearance of women and children.
Indeed, almost all media latch onto “mega cases” in
which a newsworthy woman or girl disappears
because these cases “enjoy relative longevity... [and]
elicit a very strong response” (Dowler, Fleming, &
Muzzatti, 2006, p. 839). Due to the pressure to garner
ratings, media sources portray crimes stories as
sources of entertainment in which the watcher/listener
cannot help but follow (Fuhrman, 2009; Surette,
2011). However, unlike other common newsworthy
topics, media surrounding missing women and
children are not exhaustive. Both national and local
media outlets tend to glorify certain missing persons
and ignore others (Moody, Dorries, & Blackwell,
2009; Stillman, 2007; Wanzo, 2008).
Indeed, White missing women and girls seem
to be in a category all their own. The fixation on
missing White women and children has been termed
the “Missing White Woman Syndrome” ([MWWS]
Moody et al., 2009, p. 1; see also Stillman, 2007;
Wanzo, 2008). Due to the enormous attention given to
missing White women and children, missing people
with these demographic characteristics are frequently
viewed as the most-targeted victim population in the
United States (Moody et al., 2009; Taylor & Sorenson,
2002; Wanzo, 2008). This overrepresentation
contributed to a moral panic regarding the safety of
women and children, which, in turn, led to quickly
assembled justice policy with far-reaching negative
effects (Maguire & Singer, 2011; Moody et al., 2009;
Taylor & Sorenson, 2002; Wanzo, 2008).
Although several studies show television
news media perpetuate the MWWS in the United
States (Moody et al., 2009; Wanzo, 2008), it is less
clear whether this phenomenon carries over to other
forms of news media, such as print and online news
(for an exception, see Sommers, 2017). Moreover, it is
unclear what other factors—beyond race and
gender—make a missing woman or child newsworthy
in the eyes of the print media. To fill these gaps, the
researchers examined stories about missing women
and girls from 11 different newspapers over four years
using content analysis.
Literature Review
According to the FBI's National Crime
Information Center ([NCIC], 2019), authorities were
aware of the fact that nearly 613,000 people were
missing in 2018. Missing persons were roughly
evenly divided by sex, although males (n=310,517;
50.67%) accounted for slightly higher levels than
females (n=302,218; 49.31%).
i
Missing persons are not evenly distributed by
race in proportion to their representation in the U.S.
population (see Molla, 2014). Whites account for
362,988 (59.23%) missing persons (NCIC, 2019),
even though they represent approximately 76.91% of
the U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018).
Asian Americans, Native Americans, Native
Alaskans, Native Hawaiians, and U.S. Pacific
Islanders are also underrepresented in missing persons
statistics as evidenced by the fact that people from
these backgrounds account for 22,908 (3.74%)
missing persons (NCIC, 2019) while comprising
7.16% of the U.S. population. By contrast, Blacks
account for 207,394 (33.84%) of missing persons
(NCIC, 2019). That rate is more than double their
representation as 13.31% of the U.S. population (U.S.
Census Bureau, 2018). Yet, the extant literature
documents that missing White persons receive a
disproportionately high share of media coverage,
especially as compared to missing Black people (e.g.,
Gilchrist, 2010; Liebler, 2010; Stillman, 2007; Wanzo,
2008).
“The Missing White Woman Syndrome”
Certain disappearances become fodder for
every media outlet in the nation; these cases generally
have several characteristics in common, including race
and gender (Robinson, 2005; Wanzo, 2008). Certain
people who disappear—typically White,
conventionally attractive, innocent, female, young,
and rich—are overrepresented in media coverage,
whereas missing persons from racial minority
backgrounds tend to be underrepresented (Taylor &
Sorenson, 2002, p. 121; see also Dixon, 2008; Moody
et al., 2009; Wanzo, 2008). Robinson (2005) posited
several explanations for the focus on White victims,
ranging from veiled racism to higher ratings and
increased advertising revenue. Indeed, when it comes
to the news media, White people own the means of
production (Fuhrman, 2009). Simply stated, the
media’s focus on White people may be a result of the
“in-group” being more important than the “out-group”
(Gorham, 2006, p. 303).
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Despite the popularity of the term “Missing
White Woman Syndrome,” few empirical studies have
examined the phenomenon in depth. These studies
vary based on media type and research goals. For
example, Sommers (2017) examined the MWWS in
online news. Liebler (2010) examined 31 pieces of
content—including cartoons, op-eds, and news
stories—with “Missing White Woman Syndrome”
specifically mentioned. Conlin and Davie (2015), Min
and Feaster (2010), and Simmons and Woods (2015)
examined television news. Min and Feaster (2010) and
Simmons and Woods (2015) focused on the portrayal
of missing children, while Stillman (2007) performed
a case study analysis about news coverage surrounding
Jessica Lunsford and other missing or murdered White
women. Jeanis and Powers (2017) examined both
television and print news. Moreover, Sommers (2017)
and Jeanis and Powers (2017) focused on coverage
intensity. Sampling frames also varied widely, with
Sommers (2017) examining online news from four
different sources and Jeanis and Powers (2017)
examining media disparities in cases from one state
(Louisiana).
Despite differences in methodologies, media
formats, and sampling frames, there were some
common findings across studies focused on media
portrayals of missing persons. Across gender, missing
White people received more media coverage than
missing people from racial minority backgrounds, and
missing White people's stories were more likely to
receive repeated attention (Jeanis & Powers, 2017).
Moreover, despite there being more missing Black
children in official missing persons statistics, Black
missing children were significantly less likely to
receive television news coverage than White missing
children (Conlin & Davie, 2015; Simmons & Woods,
2015). When it comes to missing women and girls,
missing White females were more likely to receive
initial and repeated media coverage than missing
minority women and girls (Sommers, 2017).
Conlin and Davie (2015) found that
television news viewers felt pity and sympathy for
missing children regardless of the children’s race; for
this reason, they challenged researchers to move
beyond a race-only analysis and examine how other
factors—including age, socioeconomic status, and
attractiveness—may impact news media coverage of
missing people. Similarly, Liebler (2010) argued that
critiques of the MWWS generally focused on race
without examining the impact of class, age, or
appearance on story narratives. The importance of age
on story narratives is clear when one considers that
Jeanis and Powers (2017) found younger missing
people received more media attention while older
persons (50+) received less. For this reason, the
researchers examined the impact of age on story
narratives.
The researchers also examined the impact of
job status because the media may stigmatize some
women due to their occupation (Jeanis & Powers,
2017). For example, the news media sometimes
dehumanized sex workers regardless of race (Stillman,
2007). As a result, women who engaged in sex work
are sometimes viewed as "less-than" due to their risky
lifestyles (Strega et al., 2014). Alternatively, evidence
suggests the media may use occupation as part of their
efforts to humanize missing women (Wanzo, 2008). In
general, if a missing woman had a prestigious or high-
paying profession, their occupation would be one of
the focal points in their story (Wanzo, 2008).
Importantly, because White people generally have
more occupational prestige than their Black peers
(Conley & Yeung, 2005; Cullen & Agnew, 2011), the
media may fail to humanize missing Black women
using their profession in the ways they do for missing
White women. Given the importance of occupation,
the researchers examined the impact of job status on
missing women and girl’s stories. The researchers
hypothesized that legitimate job status would serve to
humanize missing women and girls, while sex workers
would be dehumanized by their job status.
MWWS and Black Feminist Theory
Black feminism is relevant to the MWWS
because certain people who disappear—typically
White, female, and young—receive massive media
attention, while racial minorities who disappear
typically do not (Dixon, 2008; Moody et al., 2009;
Taylor & Sorenson, 2002; Wanzo, 2008). According
to Black feminist theory, society treats Black women
and girls poorly due to the combined effects of sexism
and racism (Collins, 2000; Meyers, 2004). Indeed,
Black women are frequently described by the media as
“‘oversexed-Black-Jezebels,’” “mammies,” “welfare
cheats” (Meyers, 2004, p. 97), and risk-takers (Slakoff
& Brennan, 2017), while White women and girls are
exalted and portrayed as “ideal victims” (Christie,
1986). In news stories about White missing women
and girls, words such as “'perfect,' 'ideal,' 'angelic,'
'golden,' and 'fairy tale'” are used to portray privileged,
happy lives (Wanzo, 2008, p. 99). Missing minority
women are not humanized in the same way, leading to
the belief that Whites are somehow more valuable than
their counterparts of other racial minority backgrounds
(Moody et al., 2009). Black and Brown people are
either entirely forgotten (Stillman, 2007) or portrayed
as less deserving of our collective sympathy due to
risk-taking behavior (Slakoff & Brennan, 2017).
Simply stated, Black feminist scholars disagree with
“the common statement ‘if it bleeds it
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leads…[because] it really depends on who is
bleeding’” (Dowler et al., 2006, p. 841).
Missing White women and girls may garner
media coverage because they more readily mirror
traditional ideals of American womanhood. For
example, in the United States and abroad, "whiteness"
is usually synonymous with beauty (Carty, 2005;
Ghannam, 2008; Hunter, 2011) and sexual
attractiveness (Carty, 2005; Cunningham, 2018).
Moreover, despite the fact that motherhood in the
United States is declining (Stone, 2018) and that
familial ideologists believe the patriarchal family
structure is oppressive (Gavigan, 1997; Smith, 1990),
motherhood status may be used to humanize women
in the news media (see Wanzo, 2008). Given this
information, the researchers searched stories for
mentions of motherhood status and hypothesized that
motherhood status would be used to humanize missing
women and girls.
The Impact of MWWS
A social reality becomes dominant in the
media after various news sources disseminate the same
information; when this occurs, consumers are
inundated by the same constructed message over and
over (Surette, 2011), often from a singular point of
view. Agenda-setting theorists argue that media not
only “[tell] people what to think” but also “what to
think about” (McCombs & Shaw, 1972, p. 177; see
also Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). Put another way,
media consumers find issues important once the media
label the topic as such (Gross & Aday, 2003; Shaw,
1979). Although the disappearance of White women
and children is an uncommon phenomenon, the media
give the impression that it—and many other rare
crimes—occurs frequently (Gross & Aday, 2003;
Heath, 1984).
ii
According to agenda-setting theory, heavy
consumers of news will take on distorted beliefs about
the real world (Croteau & Hoynes, 2014; Grabe &
Drew, 2007; Weitzer & Kubrin, 2004). With regard to
MWWS, consumers of news stories about missing
White women and girls may erroneously believe that
threats of abduction against members of this group are
omnipresent (Wade, 2011; Wanzo, 2008). Such a
narrative has social impacts beyond the distortion of
reality; it has palpable consequences on law and public
policy as illustrated by Megan's Law.
Megan’s Law was named after a young
White girl named Megan Kanka who was raped and
killed by Jesse Timmendequas, a neighbor who,
unbeknownst to the Kanka family, was a convicted sex
offender who had settled in their New Jersey
community after his release from prison. The case
received nationwide media attention that caused such
outrage that New Jersey enacted a law named after
Kanka that made sex offenders' residency and work
addresses available to the public (Wanzo, 2008).
Megan's Law is controversial because it can cause
severe emotional harm to sex offenders (Levenson,
2008) and “masks the much greater risks posed by
those intimates—neighbors, friends, and family
members—well known to children” (Wanzo, 2008, p.
107; see also Rodriguez, 2010).
The enactment of Megan's Law portrays how
powerful the media are in shaping public opinion and
sentiment. The media misrepresented the prevalence
of White women and children disappearing; this
misrepresentation led to a moral panic (Walker, 2011).
According to Cohen (1973), a moral panic begins
when “a condition, episode, person, or group of
persons emerges to become defined as a threat to
societal values and interests” (p. 9; see also Critcher,
2002; Croteau & Hoynes, 2014; Jewkes & Linneman,
2018). Moral panics often demonize an “out” group,
contributing to the easy dismissal of their rights, such
as due process and privacy (Maguire & Singer, 2011).
Moreover, moral panics tend to result in crime control
theater—a hastily “constructed ‘solution’ to a socially
constructed problem, enabling public officials to
symbolically address an essentially intractable threat”
(Griffin & Miller, 2008, p. 159; see also Zgoba, 2004).
Sex offender registry and notification laws have
distorted perceptions about which people are most in
danger of victimization and by whom (see Connor &
Tewksbury, 2017). In reality, people who are known
to women and girls are much more likely to victimize
them than strangers are, yet Megan’s Law insinuates
that the public should be more afraid of strangers
within their communities (Galeste, Fradella, & Vogel,
2012).
Given the power of the news media to
amplify and even distort issues in ways that can
negatively affect public safety, the researchers
examined whether missing White women and girls
were overrepresented in the news media while missing
women and girls from racial minority backgrounds
were underrepresented. Moreover, the researchers
examined the existence of repeated coverage.
Study Aims
The researchers took a broad approach in the
current study by examining print news stories from 11
different leading sources across the United States over
four different years. All articles about a missing
woman or girl—regardless of age—were included.
Like Jeanis and Powers (2017), the researchers
examined disparities in coverage and focused on
narrative themes. Simply stated, the goals of this study
were (1) to examine whether leading print media
MEDIA MESSAGES SURROUNDING MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS
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continues to perpetuate the MWWS and (2) to explore
if other factors—including age and job status—
influenced narrative themes surrounding missing
women and girls.
Method
The researchers used directed content
analysis to examine whether (and how) the
mainstream U.S. print media perpetuate the MWWS.
Directed content analysis begins with the exploration
of prior research and theory (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).
After consulting relevant prior work, the researchers
created a codebook with relevant categories or themes.
In this case, the researchers included the codes of
“race,” “maternal status,” “job status,” “innocence,”
“salaciousness,” “conventional beauty,” and so on to
the codebook. The researchers then read the news
articles and coded them for the presence of these
themes. When the theme was present, the researchers
highlighted the corresponding passages or words and
later examined those highlighted portions for deeper
meaning.
The researchers examined the highlighted
passages and analyzed both the manifest and latent
content of the words used. Manifest content is the
clearly distinguishable meaning of the story text—
information that is clear without having to think
deeply (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011). The researchers
also considered how the latent content, which is the
hidden, deeper meaning of the text (Maxfield &
Babbie, 2011), could potentially be interpreted by a
large audience. In order to contextualize the bivariate
findings below, the researchers included some of these
highlighted passages as illustrative examples.
Sample
The researchers examined newspaper articles
from 11 large- or medium-sized publications
throughout the United States during the years 2010,
2011, 2017, and 2018. The dataset included stories
from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago
Tribune, The Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, The
New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, San
Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The
Times-Picayune, The Wall Street Journal, and The
Washington Post. The researchers collected the 2010
and 2011 data during 2012 as part of an unpublished
project. When the researchers returned to the project
in 2019, we wanted to include more recent stories and
increase the overall sample size. Thus, the researchers
collected the 2017 and 2018 stories. This decision
allowed the researchers to conduct a broad
examination of the MWWS and examine what
changes may have occurred over time.
The researchers downloaded the 2010 and
2011 stories from Proquest Newsstand in 2012. Since
2012, the Proquest database—now called Proquest
(US Major Dailies)—has changed in structure, and the
same newspapers are no longer accessible. The
researchers wanted to include the same 11 newspapers
across all four years, so we used two current
databases—Proquest (US Major Dailies) and Access
World News—to access the 2017 and 2018 stories in
the same print media sources. In lieu of employing a
headline search, which can miss important data, the
researchers searched the full text of each article for the
word “missing” coupled with any of the following
words: “woman,” “girl,” “coed,” “wife,” “daughter,”
or “female.” The researchers believed these search
terms would yield the content desired and would
capture all of the relevant stories. Across the four
years, this search yielded 4,871 articles. Using a
random start, the researchers then manually coded
every sixth article in order to satisfy the systematic
random sampling component of effective content
analysis. This search yielded 809 articles.
Coding
The researchers conducted this study in four
phases. First, the researchers read each of the 809
articles in order to remove the articles not relevant to
missing women or girls. Out of 809 articles, 236 were
about a missing woman or girl. Hundreds of sampled
articles were about missing men,
iii
and hundreds more
were write-ups or reviews about entertainment media
(i.e., best-selling books, fictionalized television
dramas, documentaries) whose plot centered on a
missing person’s case. The remainder of the excluded
articles had the keywords present in their text, but the
articles had nothing to do with missing women or
children. Here is one example: “The victim left his
home at 7 a.m. and returned at 8:15 a.m. to find his
wife's purse was missing from the front foyer area”
(“Fairfax County Crime Report,” 2018, para. 27).
Second, the researchers examined the 236
articles about missing women and girls for the
presence of the variables shown in Table 1. Most
variables focused specifically on the missing woman
or girl featured in the article. These variables included
age category, job status, socioeconomic status,
whether she was a mother, mentions of
sexuality/salaciousness, mentions of innocence,
mentions of conventional beauty, her safety status, and
the victim’s race as mentioned in the story text. Two
other variables did not specifically pertain to the
missing person—the region in which the newspaper
originated (which was not always the region in which
the woman or girl went missing) and whether a
criminal suspect was mentioned in the story.
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The researchers quickly realized that the
victim’s race was not always evident from the text of
her story. Indeed, a missing woman or girl's race was
specified in the text of only 42 news stories. The
researchers ran Google searches for each of the other
missing persons to find photographs of them. In almost
all cases, the victim’s race was determined via her
missing person’s poster, which listed her race clearly.
In some cases, the researchers determined the victim’s
race based on a photograph posted of her on a website
(but not on her official missing person’s poster).
iv
All
told, the final sample consisted of 194 articles in which
the researchers were able to determine the race of the
missing woman or girl. Importantly, the researchers
could not determine the missing woman or girl’s race
using either method in 42 stories—primarily because
the article did not mention the missing person’s name
(making it impossible to search for her or the story
related to her on Google). Given the importance of
race to this study, the researchers excluded these 42
instances (listed in Appendix A).
During the fourth and final phase, a second
researcher independently reviewed and coded a
random sample of 161 articles (20%) from the 809
originally identified in the research sample. The
interrater reliability between the two coders was 97%
across all variables. When the coders disagreed, they
discussed their coding until they reached a consensus.
Analytic Strategy
After the completion of coding, the
researchers dummy-coded the variables and employed
Pearson’s Chi-square analyses and Fisher’s Exact
Tests to examine the statistical relationships between
the dependent variables (e.g., innocence,
salaciousness, etc.) and the independent variables
(e.g., race, age, job status) at the bivariate level.
Bivariate examinations were appropriate because the
data consisted of nominal-level (i.e., categorical)
variables (Faherty, 2008). Fisher’s Exact Tests were
used when expected cell counts were too low to use
Peason’s Chi-square analyses (Kim, 2017). The
researchers reported phi (Φ) for the Chi-square
analyses because it portrays the strength of association
between dichotomous nominal-level variables (Kim,
2017). While the researchers were interested in the
statistical relationship between variables, they also
wanted to provide illustrative examples of story
themes. These illustrative examples illuminate how
missing women and girls are presented by describing
the language used in their stories.
Findings
As shown in Table 1, 132 missing persons
stories featured a White woman or girl (68%), 38
featured a Black woman or girl (19.6%), and 24
featured women and girls from another racial
background, such as Middle Eastern, Chinese,
Japanese, or Indian (12.4%).
v
Race and Media Representation
NCIC (2019) reports missing persons by race
and missing persons by sex, but does not break down
either category by the other. Thus, available data do
not contain the number and percentages of missing
females who are White, Black, or another racial
identity. The researchers therefore needed to estimate
the number of missing women and girls by race by
multiplying the total number of missing females
(n=302,2018) by the percentage of missing persons by
race (White=59.23%; Black=33.84%;
Other=3.74%).
vi
We then compared those estimates to
the corresponding representation of missing women
and girls in our dataset.
As Table 2 illustrates, missing Black girls
and women accounted for 19.59% of news stories in
the research sample even though they are estimated to
account for 33.84% of missing persons. This disparity
of more than 14 percentage points demonstrates that
the media continue to underreport stories about
missing Black women and girls. Conversely, missing
White girls and women are overrepresented in news
stories by 8.81%, and missing women and girls from
other racial backgrounds are similarly overrepresented
by 8.63%.
Despite the fact that the MWWS persists, a
missing female’s white race did not significantly
influence story themes such as socio-economic status,
motherhood, salaciousness, innocence, conventional
beauty, and then-current safety status. However, two
salient racial differences did materialize. First,
missing Black women and girls were more likely to
have their legitimate jobs described in media stories
than their White counterparts (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 8.206,
p = .004). Second, women and girls of "other" racial
backgrounds were significantly more likely to have a
criminal suspect mentioned in their narratives than
narratives about missing White and Black women and
girls (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 6.297, p = .012).
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Table 1. Codes and Descriptive Statistics for all Variables (N = 194)
Variables
Code
N
%
Race (Story Text Only)
White (inc. Hispanic)
0
13
6.7
Black
1
10
5.2
Other Races
2
19
9.8
Race Not Specified
3
152
78.4
Race (Based on Story Text and/or Google Search)
White (inc. Hispanic)
0
132
68.0
Black
1
38
19.6
Other Races
2
24
12.4
Age Categories
Child (0-12)
0
44
22.7
Teenager (13-17)
1
25
12.9
Adult (18-29)
2
47
24.2
Older Adult (30+)
3
43
22.2
Age Not Specified
4
35
18.0
Job Status
Job Not Stated
0
146
75.3
Lawful Job
1
43
22.2
Sex Worker
2
5
2.6
Socioeconomic Status
Wealthy
0
7
3.6
Middle Class
1
2
1.0
Poor
2
10
5.2
Not Specified
3
175
90.2
Mom
No/Not Stated
0
153
78.9
Yes
1
41
21.1
Sexuality/Salaciousness
No
0
183
94.3
Yes
1
11
5.7
Innocence
No
0
178
91.8
Yes
1
16
8.2
Conventional Beauty
No
0
183
94.3
Yes
1
11
5.7
Safety Status
Still Missing
0
81
41.8
Found Alive
1
31
16.0
Found Dead
2
82
42.3
Suspect Status
Not Mentioned
0
99
51.0
Mentioned
1
95
49.0
Region
West
0
51
26.3
Midwest
1
54
27.8
Northeast
2
44
22.7
South
3
45
23.2
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Table 2. Comparison of Missing Persons to Media Representation
Recurrent Themes in Media Stories about Missing
Women and Girls
Factors other than a missing person's race
also significantly influenced media narratives, most
notably the missing female's age. Missing girls under
the age of 13 were significantly less likely to be
described as mothers (X
2
(1, N = 194)
= 9.395, p = .002) as
women and girls of other ages. Missing girls under the
age of 13 were also significantly more likely to be
described as innocent (p=.012). The theme of
innocence sometimes appeared subtly within the latent
content of the text. For example, in a 2011 article from
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the author described the
discovery of a missing girl’s training wheels
(Anonymous, 2011). A Denver Post article about the
disappearance of a 10-year-old autistic girl described
her as a “‘wonderful, silly little girl’” who “loved to
play on her trampoline” and was “clearly at risk if she
became lost” (Jordan & Nicholson, 2011, para. 1). A
2018 article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
described a missing woman as someone with a
“nonverbal learning disability” and a “need to fit in, to
be accepted” (Staples, 2018, para. 20 & 27). Her
parents had “great concern” for her because “people
took advantage of her” (Staples, 2018, para. 27).
Within the latent content of these quotations, the
media described the missing girls or women as having
a playful innocence or naiveté. This latent content may
invoke sympathy from the reader.
The researchers also examined the
relationship between the missing woman or girl’s age
and whether she was described in a salacious (i.e.,
consensually sexual) manner.
vii
Women between the
ages of 18 and 29 were significantly more likely to
have information about consensual sex or sexuality
present in their stories (p = .005) and to be described
as sex workers (p =.013) Within story text, some
mentions of salaciousness or sexuality were overt. In
a 2017 story from the Philadelphia Inquirer about the
death of a missing White 14-year-old girl named
Grace Packer, the girl’s mother (her murderer)
described her daughter as “sexually inappropriate” and
stated that the girl “sexually act[ed] out with peers,
younger children and older men” (McDaniel, 2017,
para. 7). The theme of salaciousness or sexuality was
also present in stories about extramarital affairs. In a
Denver Post story, Beverly England—a White mother
of two—is described as being “in a love triangle” and
as “having an affair” with a married man (Mitchell,
2018, paras. 4 & 8). In a 2010 Washington Post story,
missing White federal intern Chandra Levy was
described as the “other woman” in “then-
Congressman Gary Condit’s … affair” (Alexander,
2010, para. 1). With regard to missing sex workers,
stories often clearly stated their profession. For
example, a 2011 Los Angeles Times story referred to
Shannan Gilbert as “a missing New Jersey prostitute”
(“National Briefing,” 2011, para. 1).
Moreover, women aged 30 or older were
significantly more likely to be described as mothers
(X
2
(1, N = 194) = 29.888, p = .000). The media
portrayed a female’s motherhood status in the manifest
content of the story; there was no question whether the
woman was a mother because her children were
directly mentioned. For example, in a 2011 story from
The Atlanta Journal–Constitution, a Middle Eastern
woman named Wazineh Suleiman “told her children,
ages 6 to 12, she was driving to Walmart to rent a
movie” before she disappeared (Stevens, 2011, para.
1). In a 2018 article from the Los Angeles Times, police
explained that Aaron Aubrey was “suspected in his
mom’s killing” and disappearance (Hamilton, 2018,
para. 1). In a 2010 Chicago Tribune story, the search
for “Tanya Shannon, 40, a mother of four from
Ransom” was described (Schorsch, 2010, para. 1).
Moreover, missing women aged 30 or older were
significantly less likely to have a suspect mentioned in
their stories (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 4.386, p = .036) and
Missing Females
Estimates by Race
Representation in
Dataset
Over- or Under-
Representation
N
%
N
%
White
179,004
59.23%
132
68.04%
8.81%
Black
102,271
33.84%
38
19.59%
-14.25%
Other
11,303
3.74%
24
12.37%
8.63%
Unknown
9,641
3.19%
-
0.00%
302,218
100.00%
194
100.00%
MEDIA MESSAGES SURROUNDING MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS
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Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society – Volume 20, Issue 3
significantly more likely to be described in their
stories as having been found alive compared to
missing people of other ages (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 8.359,
p = .004).
The researchers also examined the
relationship between a missing person’s job status and
themes of innocence or salaciousness. Missing women
and girls with legitimate jobs (including those who
were students or retired) were significantly more likely
to be described as innocent (p =.010). Alternatively,
women or girls who participated in sex work were
significantly more likely to be described as salacious
(p =.000). Although the researchers acknowledge the
connection between sex work and salaciousness might
be tautological, it is still important to include this
finding because the public may use salacious details to
victim blame.
The region in which the newspaper was
written significantly impacted several story themes.
Stories from the South were significantly more likely
to describe the missing person as a mother (X
2
(1, N =
194) = 7.311, p = .007), while stories published in the
Midwest were significantly less so (X
2
(1, N = 194) =
4.510 p =
.034). Stories written in the Midwest were
significantly less likely to describe a missing woman
or girl as salacious (p = .036) and significantly more
likely to describe “still missing” women and girls (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 4.395, p = .036). Stories about missing
women and girls written in the Northeast were
significantly more likely to describe the person as
having been found dead (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 4.937, p =
.026) and significantly less likely to describe missing
wo
men aged 30 or older (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 7.769, p =
.005). Alternatively, stories written in the South were
si
gnificantly more likely to portray missing women
aged 30 or older (X
2
(1, N = 194) = 10.803, p = .001).
Table 3. Chi-Square Analyses & Fisher’s Exact Tests (2-Sided)* w/ Dummy-Coded Variables
Variables
Combined Dataset (2010, 2011, 2017, 2018) n = 194
χ2
DF
P
Phi (Φ)
Black / Legitimate Job
8.206
1
.004
.206
“Other” Race / Suspect Mentioned
6.297
1
.012
-.180
Child Aged 0 -12 / Innocence
.012
Child Aged 0 – 12 / Mom
9.395
1
.002
-.220
Adult 18-29 / Salaciousness
.005
Adult 18-29 / Sex Worker
.013
Older Adult (30+) / Mom
29.888
1
.000
.393
Older Adult (30+) / Suspect Mentioned
4.386
1
.036
-.150
Older Adult (30+) / Described as Found Alive
8.359
1
.004
.208
Legitimate Job / Innocence
.010
Sex Worker / Salaciousness
.000
Midwest / Mom
4.510
1
.034
-.152
Midwest / Salaciousness
.036
Midwest / Described as Still Missing
4.395
1
.036
.151
Northeast / Described as Found Dead
4.937
1
.026
.160
Northeast / Aged 30+
7.769
1
.005
-.200
South / Mom
7.311
1
.007
.194
South / Aged 30+
10.803
1
.001
.236
* When reporting results from Fisher’s Exact Tests, only p-values are included (Simon, 2000).
89
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Repeated News Coverage
Across all stories (n=194), White missing
women and girls received more repeated coverage.
Indeed, 19 missing women or girls had two or more
stories written about them within the dataset, and 16
of these missing women or girls were White.
Moreover, the media wrote three or more stories about
eight missing women and girls featured within the
dataset, and seven of these missing females were
White (see Table 4).
Table 4. Repeated Coverage by Race
Discussion
White missing women and girls were
overrepresented within our study, while Black missing
women and girls were underrepresented (Table 2). We
also found White women and girls were more likely to
have repeated news coverage (see Table 4). A White
missing woman or girl’s race did not significantly
affect story themes about her. By contrast, however,
missing Black women and girls were significantly
more likely to have their legitimate employment
mentioned in their stories. Such mentions
of legitimate employment might have been used in
attempts to humanize these missing women and girls.
For example, in a 2017 story from The Times-
Picayune, a Black woman named Regina Williams
was described as “‘one of the best social workers in
the profession’” and was credited for inspiring a
friend’s “decision to become a social worker herself”
(Nobles, 2017, para. 8). Given this description,
viewers may feel sympathy and pity for Williams; she
was a high-functioning member of society who
contributed to the world around her. The description
of Black missing women and girls as productive
members of society illustrates that their absence is a
significant loss.
The researchers also found that missing
women and girls of the “Other” racial category were
Race
Name
Number of
Stories
White (inc.
Hispanic)
Milly Dowler
Lisa Irwin
Caliyah McNabb
Stacy Peterson
Caylee Anthony
Kathleen Durst
Kelsey Berreth
Aliahna Lemmon
Grace Packer
Raffalella Stoik
Shannan Gilbert
Shannan Watts
Tanya Shannon
Angela Hernandez
Breann Rodriguez
Monica Redmond
6
5
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Black
Semaj Crosby
Millicent Williams
3
2
“Other”
Wazineh Suleiman
2
Total # of Repeated Stories
51
Total # of Non-Unique Cases~
19
Total # of Unique Cases*
143
~ 19 missing women or girls had two or more articles in our dataset.
* 143 missing women or girls had only one article in our dataset.
MEDIA MESSAGES SURROUNDING MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS
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Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society – Volume 20, Issue 3
significantly more likely to have a suspect mentioned
in their stories. On one hand, a description of a
criminal suspect in a person’s disappearance may
cause viewers and readers to sympathize with these
women because their disappearance was not
purposeful or planned. On the other hand, given that
most interpersonal crimes against women and girls are
intra-racial (Gross, 2016; Stacey, 2019) and
perpetrated by men known to the victim (National
Institute of Justice, 2008), viewers may interpret this
to mean that men in the “Other” racial category are
more violent than men in other racial categories.
The age of the missing person also
significantly affected story themes. Indeed, children
aged 12 or younger were significantly more likely to
be described as innocent, which is unsurprising given
that childhood and innocence are frequently linked in
Western culture (Taylor, 2010). Moreover, it is
unsurprising that young girls aged 12 or younger are
rarely described as mothers given that the average age
of first menstruation is around 12.5 years of age
(Chumlea et al., 2003). Stories about women ages 18
to 29 were significantly more likely to mention
sexuality or salaciousness. This description of women
is unsurprising given the age in which many people
become sexually active, but teenagers and adults over
30 are also sexual beings, and stories do not describe
them in the same way. Moreover, sexuality is not evil
or immoral, yet this theme often portrayed the missing
person in culturally negative ways—as someone
sexually acting out or as the “other woman” in an
affair. These descriptions may be factual, but they can
delegitimize a victim’s plight; indeed, a reader may
place blame on the victim due to her overt sexuality.
Across multiple feminisms, there is agreement that the
oversexualization of women’s bodies is a form of
oppression (Hegarty, 1998), and it appears that women
between 18 and 29 are often purposefully portrayed in
ways that communicate sexual deviance.
The media were significantly more likely to
describe women aged 30 or older as mothers compared
to women and girls in other age groups. We argue the
media use motherhood status to humanize missing
women. Readers may feel terrible that this person is
missing because she has children at home who need
her. With that said, the media may portray women in
this age group as mothers more frequently because
more of them are mothers; simply put, older women
are more likely to have children than younger women
or girls. Stories about women aged 30 or older were
more likely to describe them as having been “found
alive” and less likely to describe a criminal suspect in
their disappearances. First, it is possible that older
missing women are more likely to leave their homes
on their own volition; if this is the case, then it is more
likely that they would be found alive and that there
would be no suspect in the disappearance.
Alternatively, the media overrepresent crimes
committed by strangers (DiBennardo, 2018), and older
victims are the least likely to be victimized by
strangers (Harrell, 2012). Given that the media often
feature stranger victimization, but, in the real world,
strangers rarely victimize older women, it makes sense
that fewer stories involving older disappeared women
would discuss a criminal suspect.
Although stories rarely mentioned a missing
woman and girl’s socioeconomic status, media focus
on missing persons' occupations may be linked to their
social class position (Meyers, 2004). Interestingly,
“about half (51%) of employed Americans say they
get a sense of identity from their job,” whereas the
other half say it is simply a way to make a living (Pew
Research Center, 2016, para. 14). In our study, the
missing women or girls who had lawful jobs
(including students and those who had retired) were
significantly more likely to have their innocence
mentioned in the story. As discussed above, their job
status may be used as a way to humanize them. They
are portrayed as productive members of society.
In contrast, the researchers found sex workers
were significantly more likely to have sexuality or
salacious details mentioned in their stories. This
finding is unsurprising given the nature of their work.
Importantly, news stories sometimes equated sex work
with an overall risky lifestyle. For example, in a 2017
article from The Atlanta Journal – Constitution, the
author described Deborah Crawford as a sex worker
and drug peddler who spent time with “unsavory
characters” (Badertscher, 2017, para. 20). In a 2011
Wall Street Journal article about a murdered sex
worker, a district attorney stated that Megan
Waterman was killed as “a direct result of [her]
business as [a] prostitute” (Gardiner, 2011, para. 1).
Simply put, readers and viewers may equate sex work
with a larger propensity toward criminality or risk-
taking behavior, and this may cause readers to have
less sympathy and respect toward sex workers
compared to other missing people.
Stories from the South were more likely to
describe the person as a mother, and stories from the
Midwest were less likely to do so. As previously
discussed, familial ideologists argue that the
patriarchal family structure is oppressive (Gavigan,
1997), yet motherhood is applauded in American
culture (Barak, Leighton, & Cotton, 2018; Smith,
1990). The researchers believe the motherhood theme
humanizes these women and grants them importance,
especially in the U.S. South. In the South, the
percentage of evangelical Christians, who tend to
emphasize conformity to gender roles and traditional
family values, is at least eight percentage points higher
than in the Midwest, which has the second highest
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percentage of people who identify as members of an
evangelical Christian faith (Pew Research Center,
2014).
The region in which a story was written
significantly impacted story themes with regard to
other factors as well. This is unsurprising because the
importance of region in story telling is not a new
concept; throughout history, literary authors have
defined United States regions as unique places with
their own cultural norms (Shortridge, 1991). Regions
come with their own history and identity (Abadi,
2018), and, importantly, crime rates vary across region
(Burns, 2000; Nesbitt, 1993). Southern culture may
help explain why stories written in the South are
significantly more likely to focus on missing mothers
and women 30 or older, while Midwest culture may
explain why stories written in the Midwest are less
likely to focus on missing mothers and to describe
missing women and girls as salacious. Indeed, our
findings suggest that newspapers in varying regions
may have different news values or thresholds for what
makes a story newsworthy. While an in-depth look at
the impact of regional culture on portrayals of women
is beyond the scope of the current research, future
research might examine the link between regional
context and news story content more closely.
Previous research supports the existence of
the MWWS (Jeanis & Powers, 2017; Sommers, 2017).
Although the researchers did not find statistically
significant relationships between whiteness and key
thematic elements, the data from the research sample
suggests that MWWS persists in light of the
overrepresentation of missing White women and girls
and the underrepresentation of missing Black women
and girls. The results from the current study also
suggest that the MWWS may be so ingrained in
contemporary print media that journalists and readers
alike might assume story subjects are White. Recall
from Table 1 that only 13 articles (6.7%) in this study
explicitly described a missing woman or girl as White
in text, yet an online search via Google revealed that
132 stories (68%) featured White victims. Given that
the news media rarely mention a White woman or
girl’s race, yet many news stories focus on White
women and girls, we should be concerned that news
consumers may assume victims in news stories are
White unless specifically stated otherwise.
The news media were significantly more
likely to describe Black missing women and girls as
having legitimate employment compared to missing
females of other races. At first blush, this may suggest
that MWWS is declining insofar as missing Black
females are being humanized with details about their
value to society vis-à-vis their employment. But the
significant racial differences with regard to
mentioning legitimate employment appeared only in
the initial time frame sampled in the present study; no
significant differences were detected in the latter time
(see Appendix C). The researchers can only speculate
about why this may be. It could be that in the earlier
part of the 2010s, journalists were more likely to report
on Black women having good jobs because they
viewed such a fact as noteworthy either as a function
of either conscious or implicit bias. The fact that no
racial differences were detected in the second time
period might optimistically suggest broader
acknowledgement of Black women's meaningful
contributions to society through their work such that it
no longer requires mentioning to a significantly higher
degree than other women's employment status.
Conversely, and more pessimistically, journalists
might not be trying to humanize missing Black
females to the same extent they once did. Or, perhaps,
a race-neutral reason accounts for this change over
time. Specifically, it may be that females' job status is
viewed as being less important than other factors of
newsworthiness such that it is rarely mentioned.
Conversely, job status may be so important that it is
mentioned for all women, regardless of race.
Implications
The extant research on MWWS posits that
the syndrome affects public consciousness as well as
crime control policy (Kulig & Cullen, 2017; Wanzo,
2008). Importantly, over 86% of named laws passed in
the United States between 1990 and 2016 honored
White victims (Kulig & Cullen, 2017), showing that
the protection of White people is very important to
lawmakers. As previously described, sensationalistic
United States media coverage of missing White
women and children led to a moral panic about rare
stranger abductions. In reality, strangers abduct less
than one percent of missing children in the United
States (Finkelhor, 2013). Intimate partners, family
members, and acquaintances are much more likely to
victimize women and girls than strangers (Chenier,
2012).
Policy makers respond to moral panics with
“crime control theater”—enacting laws that purport to
increase public safety, but, in reality, run contrary to
empirical data and often decrease public safety
(Griffin & Miller, 2008, p. 159). Some of these
policies, such as Megan’s Law (which makes sex
offenders' residency and work addresses available to
the public) are arguably the result of the MWWS
(Wanzo, 2008). Simply put, offender registration and
notification laws, as well as legislation creating
“predator-free zones,” represent feel-safe policies
based on one-size-fits-all responses to sensationalized
cases (Meloy, Saleh, & Wolff, 2007; Rodriguez,
2010). Although arguably well-intentioned, these
MEDIA MESSAGES SURROUNDING MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS
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Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society – Volume 20, Issue 3
policies put members of society at greater risk for
crime victimization.
viii
Importantly, steps can be taken to reduce the
impact of the MWWS. Journalists should—and
absolutely can—make strides to represent crime in a
way that is both realistic and non-sensational. Both
journalists and law enforcement entities should make
a conscious effort to publicize crimes that involve
minority victims. Research shows that police work
harder to solve a case once it has media coverage (Lee,
2005). For this reason alone, the expanded coverage of
missing minority women is of monumental
importance.
Limitations
The present study is constrained by several
limitations. First, the researchers lacked the
photography that may (or may not) have originally
accompanied each article because Proquest
(Newsstand and US Major Dailies) and Access World
News are text-only databases. The lack of original
photography required the missing person’s race to be
determined via Google search (usually via their
missing person’s poster). Given that most people enter
a news story through the dominant photograph (The
Poynter Institute, 1991), the original photography
would have been a rich source of data for this study.
Second, the researchers recognize the
interesting analytical questions that come from
comparing media representations of missing women
and girls across two time periods, especially
considering the differences in the sociological and
political structure of the United States during 2010 and
2011 (under President Obama) compared to 2017 and
2018 (under President Trump). Given our primary
goal of examining the MWWS across a large sample
of stories, we did not focus our analyses on the
differences across time. With that said, the researchers
included descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses
for the two periods in Appendices B and C. While this
type of analysis would have necessitated a shift in our
research goals for this study, we strongly encourage
future researchers to examine time-based shifts in
media portrayals.
Third, a limitation of content analyses is that
it requires researchers to interpret media in order to
code data. In comparison to other forms of data
collection, data coding may be affected by the fact that
each coder brings different biases, life experiences,
and motivations to the study at hand. Although high
levels of inter-rater reliability in the present study
strongly suggest that the researchers are reporting
reliable results, it is important to understand that no
researcher views articles in the exact same way as
another researcher.
Fourth, the NCIC does not differentiate
missing females by race. Thus, although the figures
presented in Table 2 contain the best estimates in light
of available data, it is possible that the actual numbers
and percentages of missing women and girls by race
are slightly different.
Fifth, not only does the NCIC fail to account
for missing persons who identify as being two or more
races, but also it fails to systematically indicate the
ethnicity of missing persons. Thus, NCIC data fails to
capture important data on missing persons from
multiracial backgrounds, as well as missing persons of
Hispanic or Latinx identities. Indeed, NCIC reports
Hispanic and Latinx people as being White, thereby
erasing an important and growing demographic
segment of the U.S. population.
Finally, another limitation of content analysis
concerns the lack of information researchers have
about the reporting process and the reporter
disseminating the information. It is not entirely clear
whether reporters chose to cover certain missing
women or girls or if their supervisors—especially
senior editors, general managers, or even owners—
asked them to do so. It is also unclear to what extent
the reporters’ own biases and life experiences may
influence their work. Indeed, the researchers do not
know whether the reporters knew the missing woman
or girl’s race prior to disseminating their articles. Until
quality data can be recorded about reporters and the
reporting process, it is not clear whether reporters are
inherently more likely to report on certain people, if
the decision on what to report is entirely out of their
hands due to profit-making motives, and if their own
biases may be reflected in their work.
Conclusion
Although media need to continue addressing
the MWWS, the commoditization of the news likely
complicates such efforts due the importance of high
ratings (An & Bergen, 2007; MacKinnon, 2005). An
anonymous news reporter said it best: “We showcase
missing, young, White, attractive women because our
research shows we get more viewers, [and] it is about
beating the competition and [garnering] ad dollars”
(MacKinnon, 2005, para. 9). Put differently, the media
still view White women and girls as ideal victims
(Christie, 1986). The researchers argue that a crucial
step in dismantling the MWWS is discovering how to
make stories about missing minority women more
profitable to the media. In the meantime, it seems the
media is yet another avenue in which the needs of
White victims and their families come first.
With regard to positive portrayals, the
researchers argue the media humanized missing
women or girls via descriptions of their motherhood
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status, innocence/purity, and/or job status. Although
assumptions about acceptable female behavior are
under much scrutiny and even critique, it is interesting
to note that the favorable portrayals the researchers
found aligned with traditional ideals about what a
woman or girl should be. Indeed, in our study, it seems
“good” missing women and girls were those who had
children, maintained sexual purity, and gained
legitimate employment.
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About the Authors
Danielle C. Slakoff, PhD. is an Assistant Professor of
Criminology and Justice at Loyola University
New Orleans, where she also serves as the Co-
chair of the Women’s Studies Interdisciplinary
Minor. Danielle received her bachelor’s degree in
Journalism and her master’s degree in Criminal
Justice from California State University, Long
Beach. In 2013, she received the Outstanding
Thesis Award from the Department of Criminal
Justice at California State University, Long Beach
for her work on media portrayals of female
victims. In 2018, she received her Ph.D. in
Criminology and Justice from the University of
Nebraska Omaha. Her research interests include
media representations of female victims and
female offenders, women’s issues within the
criminal justice system, race/ethnicity, and
domestic violence. Danielle’s work on women’s
issues within the criminal justice system can be
found in Feminist Criminology and in a chapter in
the forthcoming edited book Punishing Gender
Past and Present: Examining the Criminal Justice
System Across Gendered Experiences. She also
has a solo-authored manuscript forthcoming in
Sociology Compass entitled “The Representation
of Women and Girls of Color in United States
Crime News.” Please address correspondence to
Dr. Danielle C. Slakoff, Loyola University New
Orleans, 6363 St. Charles Avenue, Box 55, New
Orleans, LA 70118 or via e-mail at
[email protected].
Henry F. Fradella is a Professor in and Associate
Director of the School of Criminology and
Criminal Justice at Arizona State University,
where he also holds affiliate appointments as a
professor of law and as a core faculty member in
the interdisciplinary program on law and
behavioral science. He earned a B.A. in
psychology, a master’s in forensic science, a law
degree, and Ph.D. in justice studies. Dr. Fradella
researches substantive and procedural criminal
law, the dynamics of legal decision-making, and
the consequences of changes in legal
processes. He is the author or co-author of 12
books including Punishing Poverty: How Bail
and Pretrial Detention Fuel Inequalities in the
Criminal Justice System (University of California
Press); Stop and Frisk (New York University
Press); Sex, Sexuality, Law, and
(In)Justice (Routledge); Mental Illness and
Crime (Sage); Defenses of Excuse in American
Law (Academica); a criminal law casebook
(Oxford), and five textbooks (Oxford and
Cengage). His more than 90 articles, book
chapters, reviews, and scholarly commentaries
have appeared in outlets such as the American
Journal of Criminal Law; Criminal Justice Policy
Review; Criminal Law Bulletin; Criminology and
Public Policy;Federal Courts Law
Review; Journal of Contemporary Criminal
MEDIA MESSAGES SURROUNDING MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS
98
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society – Volume 20, Issue 3
Justice; Journal of Criminal Justice Education;
the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law; and
the University of North Carolina Law Review. A
fellow and past-president of the Western Society
of Criminology, Dr. Fradella edited that society’s
journal, Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law &
Society, from 2014 to 2017. He guest-edited
the Journal of Contemporary Criminal
Justice three times and he became the Editor-in-
Chief of the Criminal Law Bulletin in 2019. Dr.
Fradella received the WSC’s Joseph D. Lohman
award in 2014 for his professional service and was
honored with the Richard Tewksbury Award for
scholarship and activism on the intersection of
crime and sexuality in 2017.
99
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Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society – Volume 20, Issue 3
Footnotes
i
According to the NCIC (2019), the sexes of the remaining number of missing persons were unknown
(n=111; 0.02%).
ii
Importantly, the phenomenon of media distortion of factual news has been exacerbated in the Digital Age.
According to the Pew Research Center (Matsa & Shearer, 2018), nearly half of all adults in the United States
routinely get news from social media platforms, even though a majority of people have concerns about the accuracy
of these sources. Most social media users admit that news coverage on social media does not improve their
understanding of current events (Matsa & Shearer, 2018).
iii
The stories about missing males found in this sample were “false positives” because our search terms were
female-focused. In order to do a comparison between genders, the researchers would need to use male-focused
search terms in the same newspapers across the same four years. While we believe a comparison in news coverage
across male and female missing person’s stories is an important academic endeavor, this type of analysis is outside
of the purview of the current study.
iv
It is potentially problematic to determine someone’s race based on a photograph, as Americans are
increasingly mixed race (Tsui, 2018). With that said, skin tones vary for White, Black, and Latinx people
(Wilkinson, Garand, & Dunaway, 2015). In the few cases in which a photograph was the primary tool used to
establish race, both authors agreed about the coding.
v
The NCIC (2019) data include Hispanic people in the White category. For this reason, the researchers
included Hispanic females in the White count.
vi
According to the NCIC (2019), the race of the remaining 19,556 (3.19%) missing persons is unknown.
vii
We did not code mentions of sexual assault as salaciousness because sexual assault takes place without
consent. Descriptions of consensual sexual activities (e.g., sleeping with multiple partners, having extramarital
affairs) were coded as salacious.
viii
For example, consider the risk of homelessness that sex offenders face as a function of stringent residence
restrictions. Not only does homelessness make it quite difficult for law enforcement to track sex offenders
effectively (Cherry, 2019), but homelessness produces stressors to the offender that may actually trigger additional
offending (Levenson, 2008).
MEDIA MESSAGES SURROUNDING MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS
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Appendix A
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10) Local digest. (2010, June 2). The Washington Post, p. C1.
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32) McKnight, L. (2017, May 28). Accused child porn maker got previous life sentence slashed. The Times-Picayune, p. B4.
33) Marrazzo, A. (2017, July 8). Man gets 7 years for kidnapping girl. Chicago Tribune, p. 3.
34) Newall, M. (2017, September 3). At march, putting grief into action – Marching for those lost to addiction. The Philadelphia
Inquirer, p. B1.
35) Myers, A.L. (2017, November 12). Las Vegas shooting victims still searching for their heroes. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p
.
A14.
36) Mo
ran, R. (2017, November 23). Remains of two fire victims found - Four residents had been reported missing after Barclay
Friends fire in West Chester. Philadelphia Inquirer, p. B4.
37) Foreman, L. (2018, February 15). Southwest Atlanta - 'Find My Friend s' app leads boyfriend to woman's body - Technology
points police to woods near charter school. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, p. B2.
38) Brasch, B. (2018, March 15). Cobb County – Man shoots self as cops close in. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, p. B4.
39) Associated Press. (2018, November 13). Death toll climbs from California fires. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. A1.
40) Egelko, B. (2018, November 22). Metro. San Francisco Chronicle, p. C1.
41) Olson, Y.S. (2018, November 5). 1 dead, 1 missing in group lake swim. Chicago Tribune, p. 3
.
42) Craig, T. (2018,
November 16). After deadliest fire in California history, search for human remains begins. The Washington
Post, p. A8.
101
SLAKOFF & FRADELLA
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society – Volume 20, Issue 3
Appendix B
Codes and Descriptive Statistics for all Variables Over Time Periods
Variables
Code
Time 1 (2010-
2011)
N = 76
Time 2
(2017-2018)
N = 118
N
%
N
%
Race (Story Text Only)
White
0
5
6.6
8
6.8
Black
1
0
0
10
8.5
Other Races
2
7
9.2
12
10.2
Race Not Specified
3
64
84.2
88
74.6
Race (Based on Story Text and/or Google Search)
White
0
58
76.3
74
62.7
Black
1
9
11.8
29
24.6
Other Races
2
9
11.8
15
12.7
Age Categories
Child (0-12)
0
20
26.3
24
20.3
Teenager (13-17)
1
9
11.8
16
13.6
Adult (18-29)
2
17
22.4
30
25.4
Older Adult (30+)
3
16
21.1
27
22.9
Age Not Specified
4
14
18.4
21
17.8
Job Status
Job Not Stated
0
59
77.6
87
73.7
Lawful Job
1
13
17.1
30
25.4
Sex Worker
2
4
5.3
1
0.8
Socioeconomic Status
Wealthy
0
1
1.3
6
5.1
Middle Class
1
0
0
2
1.7
Poor
2
2
2.6
8
6.8
Not Specified
3
73
96.1
102
86.4
Mom
No/Not Stated
0
65
85.5
88
74.6
Yes
1
11
14.5
30
25.4
Sexuality/Salaciousness
No
0
70
92.1
113
95.8
Yes
1
6
7.9
5
4.2
Innocence
No
0
70
92.1
108
91.5
Yes
1
6
7.9
10
8.5
Conventional Beauty
No
0
71
93.4
112
94.9
Yes
1
5
6.6
6
5.1
Safety Status
Still Missing
0
39
51.3
42
35.6
Found Alive
1
12
15.8
19
16.1
Found Dead
2
25
32.9
57
48.3
Suspect Status
Not Mentioned
0
44
57.9
55
46.6
Mentioned
1
32
41.1
63
53.4
Region
West
0
16
21.1
35
29.7
Midwest
1
27
35.5
27
22.9
Northeast
2
19
25
25
21.2
South
3
14
18.4
31
26.3
MEDIA MESSAGES SURROUNDING MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS
102
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society – Volume 20, Issue 3
Appendix C
Chi-Square Analyses & Fisher’s Exact Tests (2-Sided)* with Dummy-Coded Variables
Variables
Time 1 (2010 – 2011)
N = 76
Time 2 (2017 – 2018)
N = 118
χ2
DF
P-Value
Phi (Φ)
χ2
DF
P-Value
Phi (Φ)
White / Child Aged 0 – 12
5.242
1
.030
.263
N/S
Black / Child Aged 0 – 12
N/S
4.747
1
.029
.201
Black / Legitimate Job
.041
N/S
“Other” Race / Mom
N/S
.011
“Other” Race / Suspect Mentioned
N/S
4.931
1
.026
-.204
“Other” Race / Aged 30+
N/S
.021
Child Aged 0 -12 / Innocence
.038
N/S
Child Aged 0 – 12 / Mom
N/S
4.641
1
.031
-.198
Teenager 13 – 17 / Suspect
Mentioned
N/S
5.733
1
.016
.221
Adult 18-29 / Salaciousness
.000
N/S
Adult 18-29 / Sex Worker
.002
N/S
Older Adult (30+) / Mom
.009
21.140
1
.000
.423
Older Adult (30+) / Suspect
Mentioned
4.535
1
.033
-.244
N/S
Older Adult (30+) / Described as
Found Alive
.000
N/S
Legitimate Job / Innocence
N/S
(.059)
N/S
(.062)
Legitimate Job / Suspect Mentioned
N/S
4.460
1
.035
.194
Sex Worker / Salaciousness
.000
.042
West / Adult 18-29
.039
N/S
West / Innocence
N/S
.032
Midwest / Mom
N/S
(.085)
N/S
Midwest / Salaciousness
N/S
(.083)
N/S
Midwest / Described as Still Missing
6.086
1
.014
.283
N/S
Midwest / Described as Found Dead
3.921
1
.048
-.227
N/S
Midwest / Child Aged 0 – 12
4.494
1
.034
.243
N/S
Midwest / Adult 18 -29
8.401
1
.004
-.332
N/S
Midwest / Suspect Mentioned
N/S
5.659
1
.017
-.219
Northeast / Sex Worker
.046
N/S
Northeast / Described as Still
Missing
12.798
1
.000
-.410
N/S
Northeast / Described as Found
Dead
19.094
1
.000
.501
N/S
Northeast / Aged 30+
N/S
6.409
1
.011
-.233
South / Mom
.004
N/S
South / Aged 30+
N/S
5.970
1
.015
.225
South / Described as Found Alive
.007
N/S
* When reporting results from Fisher’s Exact Tests, only p-values are included (Simon, 2000).