05 Apr 3-2-17 Is the world really a more dangerous place now? No.

This past week, I was in Raleigh for some State Home Builders meetings. I stayed overnight in a hotel room and the next morning, I watched news. I don’t have television at my house, so watching the news is something I don’t do very often. All I heard about were all these bad things going on in the world.
Here were the topics of the 8:00 news:
• Video of a plan crashing into a shopping center where 4 people were killed
• The security breach at the TSA and how that affects travelers
• A discussion on the security advisor President Trump selected
• The travel ban for various Muslim countries
• FBI Bomb threats
• Angelina Jolie in Cambodia and speaking about that country’s genocide
I realized why I am so glad I don’t watch much TV anymore. 90% of what you see on TV is bad. I prefer to have a positive outlook on life. I’m glad I’m not brought down, on a daily basis, by all this bad news on the news shows and the terrible topics of many of the regular shows.
So this got me thinking about how we all probably feel that we live in a much more dangerous country than the past. I have heard so many people say that they didn’t have to worry about playing outside on their own when they were growing up. And that it’s a different world now and we need to be very cautious.
My theory is that our thoughts are skewed because of the influx of the 24 hour news channel. They have to come up with something to talk about for 24 hours a day. So every story gets played a thousand times, and most stories are about bad things. Now, we all think the world is worse now than years past.
I decided to get some actual facts from the FBI National Crime Information Center. I’m going to look at the years either before or at the start of the era of the 24-hour news stations.
So here are the results of my research
The number of missing children has declined 40% from 1997. So contrary to all the reports we hear now, this rate has dropped 40% in 20 years.
Violent crimes – In 1980 the rate was 597 per 100,000 people. In 2015, it dropped to 383
Murders – In 1980, the rate was 10. In 2015, it dropped to 4.9.
Assault – In 1980, the rate was 37. In 2015, dropped to 28.1.
Robbery – In 1980, the rate was 251. In 2015, it dropped 101.
Vehicle thefts – In 1980, the rate was 502. In 2015, it dropped 220.
Total crimes, this is a summary of everything they tracked. In 1980, the rate was 5,950 per 100,000 people. In 2015, it dropped to 2,870, less than half of what it was in 1980.
So contrary to what almost everybody believes, these facts show we live in a far safer society now than we did 35 years ago. Think about it. We need to change our thought processes.