That's more perception than reality. Sure, children do occasionally get waylaid and molested by pedophiles, abducted by strangers, and even, God forbid, murdered. But these are extremely rare and random events. The average suburban American child has a greater chance of being blown away by a tornado or swallowed up by the ground in an earthquake than being snatched off the street by a kidnapper.But these days it is dangerous to be walking even in pairs with all these weidos which get around
The difference between now and fifty years ago is that, with today's ever-present and all-pervasive news media, whenever such a tragic event occurs, we hear about it instantly. And we keep hearing about it for weeks or months thereafter.
Google Lenore Skenazy and read some of her columns on the topic of children being raised by over-worried, overprotective parents. You may be surprised and enlightened.