Originally Posted by
Artkansas
News shows are a notoriously bad source of information. Do you think that the levels have gone up, down or remained constant for the past 100 years, and to what degree?
The news may be inaccurate in detail, but there is no doubt that it conveys a reasonable sense of the dangers in a community. I don't think it is a change over time, but rather a change in life style. In small communities where everyone has known everyone else for their entire lives, there is a lack of anonymity that helps curtail man's baser nature. Do such things still occur in such areas? Of course, man is basically an evil creature, but the percentages are lower. When evil is accompanied by anonymity you see a much free expression of the evil--see the internet for a perfect example.
Originally Posted by
Artkansas
According to the
Megan's Law website. "90% of child victims know their offender, with almost half of the offenders being a family member. Of sexual assaults against people age 12 and up, approximately 80% of the victims know the offender." So the big danger is not drive-by-pedophiles, but people the child knows well, especially family members.
So I suspect that if one's neighborhood appears safe, it probably is. Of course, all children should receive training in what to do in a situation where they are confronted by a hostile adult.
The danger is not the external, but the lack of supervision and communication from parents. Such supervision/communication will not prevent single instance acts, but they will prevent repetitions if the child is comfortable talking with their parents. But the issue of the thread is not the actual safety of the children in question, but the parents perceived belief in their safety. And as I said, no parent, living in a community where they haven't known all the residents for their entire lives should feel that their children are safe. That is not the same thing as not allowing the children to go to the corner store and purchase an ice cream...