I have never seen any actual evidence that children are at greater risk from predators than in the past. Predators have always existed, but we have an unspoken and unexamined assumption in our society that children are at greater risk than in the past.
I’ve been trying to find such evidence for about 10 years without success.
My mom and two sisters used to walk home through an old gravel pit from school. One time a guy exposed himself to them. (The oldest girl was about 10). They ran home and my grandma reported it to the police. They were brought down to the station and questioned and looked at mugshots. (My mom said that was scaryier than the guy!) The next day they caught the guy - and found out he had killed two women.
This would have been about 1924!