Unit 6 Lesson 3: Missing Persons

Question 1

Missing person definition?

Answer 1

Anyone whose whereabouts is unknown and;
- where the circumstances are out of character, or
- the context suggests the person may be subject to crime, or
- the person is at risk of harm to themselves or another

Question 2

Definition of ‘concern for person’?

Answer 2

A person whose whereabouts are known or believed to be known and there are concerns of risk or harm to the individual

Question 3

What are the 3 categories of persons who are referred to as ‘absconders’?

Answer 3

• a child or young person who fails to return to local authority care or other residential establishment where they have been placed by a Supervision Order.
• a person who leaves hospital following voluntary or compulsory admission and is vulnerable to harm.
• a person who fails to return to custody

Question 4

Explain Section 169 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011?

Answer 4

Where a child:-
(a) Requires to be kept in a particular place, and
(b) The child absconds from that place, or fails to return to that place,
Then the police have the power to return the absconder to that place.

Question 5

Explain Section 170 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011.

Answer 5

Applies where:-
(a) a person has (or is authorised to have) control of a child, and
(b) the child absconds from that person,

Then the police have the power to return the absconder to that person.

Question 6

Explain Section 181 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011.

Answer 6

Offence for any person to knowingly:-
- assist or induce a child to abscond
- harbour or conceal a child who has absconded
- prevent a child from returning to a place of safety, to a relevant place