It is extremely difficult to come up with accurate numbers, but it's likely there aren't any more predators on children than 50, 100 or 200 years ago. I've tried to find good comparative numbers, without much success. If you have a reference, please let me know.
The perception of how common these types of things are is almost completely disconnected from actual rates.
For instance, most people believe crime is getting worse. In actual fact, it's been dropping for about 20 years.
>>The perception of how common these types of things are is almost completely disconnected from actual rates. <<
Which has led to the “bubble-wrap my kid” syndrome.
In my day, if a kid was eating mud, the parents would just say “he’ll throw up or not.” Nowadays he would be rushed to the ER.