Is there really more child abuse, or do we just hear about it more often ? The Police say that the numbers of children randomly picked up and abused hasn't changed in over 50 years but the moment something happens its all over the media so every parent is (apparently) terrified. This would indicate to me that the crime hasn't increased but the fear of crime has been ramped up by people who have a vested interested in selling terrible news. More relevant to this point, I think you'll find the statistics show that most abuse happens within families. Therefore these kids were probably SAFER from abuse by wandering the streets at midnight.