Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Originally posted by: DrPizza
Here are some interesting things that I'm snipping from
this article:
In 1972, 87 percent of children who lived within a mile of school walked or biked daily; today, just 13 percent of children get to school under their own power, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a significant parallel, before 1980, only 5 percent of children were obese; today that figure has tripled, says the CDC.
Although statistics show that rates of child abduction and sexual abuse have marched steadily downward since the early 1990s, fear of these crimes is at an all-time high. Even the panic-inducing Megan's Law Web site says stranger abduction is rare and that 90 percent of child sexual-abuse cases are committed by someone known to the child. Yet we still suffer a crucial disconnect between perception of crime and its statistical reality. A child is almost as likely to be struck by lightning as kidnapped by a stranger, but it's not fear of lightning strikes that parents cite as the reason for keeping children indoors watching television instead of out on the sidewalk skipping rope.
Seriously, the media has made a Frankenstein out of this. Are there sick fucks in the world? Undoubtedly. Tell you children not to accept candy from a stranger. Hmmm, come to think of it, I wonder which statistic is higher: kids accidentally being killed while participating in organized athletics (baseball, football, soccer, etc.), or kids being intentionally killed by a stranger?
I hear weekly on the news of attempted abductions. The media wasn't as prevalent back in the day, if it was, we'd probably be under the same hysteria there is today.
And, I hear weekly about "attempted abductions" too; they're constantly in my inbox as precautionary. I'd imagine most of them start like this: "Excuse me little girl, can you tell me where..." "Stranger!!!" <10 minutes later> "Mommy, a stranger tried to talk to me." "Tell me, what did he look like, what color was his car..." <3 minutes later> "Hello, Police, yes, someone just tried to abduct my daughter."
Did you ever notice how there are a lot of "attempted abductions" but virtually zero arrests in such cases? Universally, the police are so incompetent that they can never catch these guys & universally, the kids never get a license plate number? Could it possibly be that when there *is* a license plate number, the police follow through with their investigation only to learn, "yet another over-reacting mother who watches too many television shows. The guy stopped to ask her if she could give directions to the school. Hell, he even had his wife and kids in the car with him." And, in other cases, sure, it may be a pervert or something staring at kids, but there's really no evidence of "attempted abduction" - it's just blown out of proportion. Here's one:
Investigators have impounded the vehicle driven by the man who the girl said tried to kidnap her twice as she walked to school. The latest attempted kidnapping is one of 7 reports since the first of the year. But detectives are not sure if they are all related. The vehicle that has been impounded is a late model Nissan Sentra with a front bumper vanity plate that reads, ?Fear This?. It perfectly matched the description given by the 11-year-old student at Healthy Start Academy who reported being followed twice. Principal Dietrich Danner said school staff quickly reacted to make sure the student was safe. ?Yes it?s scary, student safety is our first priority,? Principal Danner said. One resident of the Landon and Hardee neighborhood who frequently rides the city bus said the nearby stop is often teaming with children.He said he's not surprised to hear of the attempted abductions.
Yes, it's good to be alert & proactive. But people are counting all the false alarms when they try to come up with statistics. And, the only place I was able to find a statistic mentioned 450 attempts over a 3 year period; but even that place pointed out their stats shouldn't be taken too seriously because their sources weren't completely verifiable.
Look at the way that article was written: "latest attempted kidnapping is one of 7 reports..." It's designed to attract interest to the story as if there's something more interesting to read than there really is. Think about it; don't just let logic escape your reasoning. Child abductors went 0 for 7? As far as all of the crimes that can possibly be committed, child abducting must attract the most incompetent of all criminals. Are the sick disgusting perverts of the world really that incompetent? Again, there are some out there, and for that reason it's important to stay alert. But the number out there is blown way out of proportion & is not a reasonable reason to overly shelter children.
Just a quick google search will reveal just how poor individuals are (and the nation as a whole is) at realistic risk assessment. The media doesn't help - the media needs sensationalism to continue its existence (or at least the existence of the reporters writing those stories.) There are examples in all walks of life of how the majority of American's are incapable of comparing risks and logically making decisions.
edit: in support of some child abductors are pretty much idiots:
here