[mysterio]

There may have been child bullies, but there weren’t adult perverts waiting to rape, torture, and kill you.

Sure there were. I was a little kid in the 80s.

I think it all started to change in the 80s. That’s when pornography started to go mainstream.

That's a pretty specific cause / effect scenario that would be difficult to prove.

I'd say that the heightened parental awareness of child abductions (such as milk carton photos, etc.) led to less kids walking to school. Probably more so than actual abductions, but I don't have the numbers in front of me, so that's just a guess.

[brytlea]

I kind of think the Adam Walsh abduction/murder was when a lot of people started being concerned about child abductions. Certainly he wasn’t the first, but it’s the first one I recall making big national news over a long period of time. I do recall it making me more vigilant when I had my kids at the store, because it brought home the fact that there WERE crazies out there who would take children.