Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, provides technology, forensic services and investigative support to resolve missing person and unidentified remains cases, but the database has been underrepresenting the cases of Black and Indigenous women at disproportionate rates, according to a recent report from PBS News Hour.

The de-prioritizing of missing women who are not white, continues to be a story that has not yet found resolution despite all the work Black parents, parents of color and a few legislators, notably Rep. Ilhan Omar, have devoted to making this a national issue. In fact, law enforcement officials and advocates for missing persons revealed that there are no consistent federal standards or requirements for police agencies to input missing person cases into NamUs, as regulations differ from state to state.

While states such as North Dakota, New York and Montana have laws mandating law enforcement to enter missing or unidentified person cases into NamUs, others like Missouri and many more do not have such provisions.

This leads to thousands of missing person reports for Black and Indigenous women being swept under the rug. As of January 2024, 23,972 unresolved missing persons cases were reported in NamUs. According to the report, 37% were Black teenage women. Around 840 cases went unresolved for incidents involving missing American Indian and Alaska natives, with 31% of those cases involving American Indian and Alaskan teenage women.

Source: REPORT: Department Of Justice Underrepresenting Missing Black And Indigenous Women Cases