Anonymous wrote:I’m 48, and a guy did try to grab a girl in my nice neighborhood when we were kids. He escalated from just whipping his thing out in front of us neighborhood kids. When he got arrested for the attempted kidnapping, we told our parents about the perv he was. Parents didn’t pay attention back then and kids got hurt/killer. The Lyon sisters were kidnapped from Wheaton plaza right before I was born. Now, UMC parents keep better tabs on their kids. I don’t think the same is true for LMC and poor kids.

As the poor mother of a poor kid, I disagree. I keep just as good tabs on my DD as her wealthy friends' parents keep on their kids.

I can't speak to statistics, but I've been a prosecutor for a decade and I have practiced in both state and local courts, both in the DMV area. I have never prosecuted (or ever heard of a colleague prosecuting) a stranger kidnapping case. I can think of one case where a drug dealer kidnapped a child of someone who owed him money, but every other kidnapping case involved family or custody disputes.

For whatever reason, people have gotten it into their heads that human traffickers are abducting women and children from MC/UMC neighborhoods and forcing them into sexual slavery. This just isn't reality. Human trafficking cases almost universally involve criminals bringing undocumented immigrants into the country and then using their lack of legal status as a way to force them into sex work or other labor.

I'm not saying women shouldn't be vigilant about their personal safety, but you're infinitely more likely to be the victim of a robbery or carjacking than kidnapping or human trafficking.

I’m 48, and a guy did try to grab a girl in my nice neighborhood when we were kids. He escalated from just whipping his thing out in front of us neighborhood kids. When he got arrested for the attempted kidnapping, we told our parents about the perv he was. Parents didn’t pay attention back then and kids got hurt/killer. The Lyon sisters were kidnapped from Wheaton plaza right before I was born. Now, UMC parents keep better tabs on their kids. I don’t think the same is true for LMC and poor kids.

Anonymous wrote:Are things such as kidnapping and human trafficking worse now or are we just inundated with this information more?

I’m 40 and when I was growing up, I was out roaming stores, neighborhoods and out on the sidewalks/streets frequently. Nothing happened to me and it seemed like nobody cared.

Yup, you are right, we are inundated with news. But just because it’s not more common doesn’t mean parents who don’t let their kids roam are overprotective. Just like we generally agree that putting kids in car seats and seat belts is a good idea even though cars are actually safer than they were 30 years ago. Risk tolerances change over time.

Anonymous wrote:Are things such as kidnapping and human trafficking worse now or are we just inundated with this information more?

I’m 40 and when I was growing up, I was out roaming stores, neighborhoods and out on the sidewalks/streets frequently. Nothing happened to me and it seemed like nobody cared.

I'm 46 and growing up I was only allowed out for 15 minutes at a time. My mother was paranoid. We just hear about them now a lot more. When you lived in CT in the 80's, you didn't hear about a kidnapping in Arizona because it didn't make your local newspaper. Now we know about everything that happens, and there are a million articles about it, covering it from different angles.

Anonymous wrote:The FBI statistics are publicly available. There are less kidnappings and most kidnappings are done by family members, not strangers.

Human trafficking is different although I don’t recall the stats off my head. The human trafficking scare tactics that we hear about with white women/teens in grocery store parking lots is mostly BS Qanon stuff. Most human trafficking happens to women/girls of color. Also to immigrants that are brought here and forced into indentured servitude.

+1 This. We hear about it more now because it’s rare and because of the internet. The world is actually much safer than when we are kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FBI statistics are publicly available. There are less kidnappings and most kidnappings are done by family members, not strangers.

Human trafficking is different although I don’t recall the stats off my head. The human trafficking scare tactics that we hear about with white women/teens in grocery store parking lots is mostly BS Qanon stuff. Most human trafficking happens to women/girls of color. Also to immigrants that are brought here and forced into indentured servitude.

Human trafficking isn't really about colour. It is about poverty, vulnerability, and most often happens to those who are already in quite dire circumstances. There are many white women who have been trafficked. However it isn't the rich kid in the grocery store parking lot.

People of color are more likely to trafficked.

https://www.dressember.org/blog/raceandtrafficking-fd9cb

People of colour being more likely to be trafficked doesn't translate to most human trafficking happening to people of colour. As your own link states, it is an intersection of class, race, gender, age etc that means there is a disproportion in the vulnerabilty of white women vs women of colour. It isn't that poor white vulnerable women aren't trafficked

Anonymous wrote:Are things such as kidnapping and human trafficking worse now or are we just inundated with this information more?

I’m 40 and when I was growing up, I was out roaming stores, neighborhoods and out on the sidewalks/streets frequently. Nothing happened to me and it seemed like nobody cared.

Realities are still the same, too much information has changed perceptions and raised anxiety levels.

Most "kidnappings" you hear about are really custody issues and done by a family member.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The FBI statistics are publicly available. There are less kidnappings and most kidnappings are done by family members, not strangers.

Human trafficking is different although I don’t recall the stats off my head. The human trafficking scare tactics that we hear about with white women/teens in grocery store parking lots is mostly BS Qanon stuff. Most human trafficking happens to women/girls of color. Also to immigrants that are brought here and forced into indentured servitude.

Human trafficking isn't really about colour. It is about poverty, vulnerability, and most often happens to those who are already in quite dire circumstances. There are many white women who have been trafficked. However it isn't the rich kid in the grocery store parking lot.

People of color are more likely to trafficked.

https://www.dressember.org/blog/raceandtrafficking-fd9cb

Stranger kidnapping is very rare. Most kidnappings are custody disputes and others are by known family / friends / acquaintances.

Child human trafficking is also rare (here). In some countries in the world it is more common. Here the biggest vulnerabilities are young women on the street or living rough, mental health issues, substance use, few strong connections (i.e. recently relocated or was in foster care) and most trafficking happens locally within ones own community. Traffickers are both men and women and they look mostly for women who need them for something, where they can create a dependence and then exploit that dependence. The snatching off the street is rare, it is usually more befriending, creating dependence, and then exploiting.

I would assume that most people who read DCUM-involved parents, have $$, are present at home-arent the parents who need to be concerned about their kids being kidnapped to be trafficked. No trafficker wants to deal with that. Theyd rather take a kid nobody would really miss.

Anonymous wrote:The FBI statistics are publicly available. There are less kidnappings and most kidnappings are done by family members, not strangers.

Human trafficking is different although I don’t recall the stats off my head. The human trafficking scare tactics that we hear about with white women/teens in grocery store parking lots is mostly BS Qanon stuff. Most human trafficking happens to women/girls of color. Also to immigrants that are brought here and forced into indentured servitude.

Human trafficking isn't really about colour. It is about poverty, vulnerability, and most often happens to those who are already in quite dire circumstances. There are many white women who have been trafficked. However it isn't the rich kid in the grocery store parking lot.

The FBI statistics are publicly available. There are less kidnappings and most kidnappings are done by family members, not strangers.

Human trafficking is different although I don’t recall the stats off my head. The human trafficking scare tactics that we hear about with white women/teens in grocery store parking lots is mostly BS Qanon stuff. Most human trafficking happens to women/girls of color. Also to immigrants that are brought here and forced into indentured servitude.

They are still super rare- especially from a total stranger. I don’t worry about this at all

Are things such as kidnapping and human trafficking worse now or are we just inundated with this information more?

I’m 40 and when I was growing up, I was out roaming stores, neighborhoods and out on the sidewalks/streets frequently. Nothing happened to me and it seemed like nobody cared.