No one went missing, no one was assulted, there were no perverts lurking in the woods.
There have always been lurking perverts and other criminals. The main difference now is that people are more aware of them. Something happens, it makes national news and people see it on TV. Such crimes and criminals are in people's memory, often in their recent memory, so they think they are common, or at least more common than they really are.
This bias is an example of
en.wikipedia.org
In addition to this cognitive bias, you also have a general increase in the amount of weight given to issues of safety over other concerns, and willingness to give some on other issues in the name of safety, esp. for children.
Also you have more cars, so if a kid needs to get somewhere there is more likely to be a car and driver to take the kid there. In the past the family might have had one car (which might be unavailable having been used for a commute to work), and before that 0 cars.
Another factor might be higher population density. In the past you would have to go further to reach the same number of people. This article was about differences over 4 generations and close to 90 years. You might have had rural areas turn to dense suburbs or sometimes even cities during that time.
If there really is any more actual danger (and I'm not sure there is), its probably not from a higher percentage of people being perverts and criminals, but from third parties being less willing to get involved to protect people, even children. |
