Actually, I read in the October issue of Reader’s Digest (sorry, I do read things besides the Jewish papers) that acording to police records, violence by strangers against children is down to the level it was in the 70s. What has changed is the hype by the media i.e. radio, internet etc. This causes the level of paranoia to increase. You have to use sense, but you can’t make yourself or your kids too crazy.
BTW, to those that are very paranoid or controling about where there children are, how do you send a child to sem in Israel when in most sems from Friday afternoon until Sunday, the sem has only the girl’s word where she is? I’m not judging, but I’ve always wondered.