I totally agree with this but the reality is that it does happen, no matter the infrequency of it happening.

It is difficult giving my child that freedom out of fear but I reluctantly do for this very reason. He must be given the opportunity to live life and have some independence. I also discussed this with him and went through what he should do and while I have little doubt that in the community I live in he would be safe there are no guarantees.

I heard the Amber Alert didn't get broadcast til over 2 hours after the abduction. If true what took so long?

Innumeracy is rampant in the US today.

That's when it went out across the state. It was out in Springfield within a half hour IIRC

I hope they spend some time and study the guy's brain and maybe get more clues as to how people end up like this. Then a bullet and be done with him.

Why arent there alerts like this when ANYONE is abducted? Why does it have to be a child. Ill sign up voluntarily to get alerts, but I want it to be for anybody abducted or missing that we can try to save

Its not actually. The world is safer than its been in a long time. Violent crime is down. Children are safer per capita than theyve been in years. I know its hard to see after a tragedy like this but its the facts. As a species we should expect that trend to continue. Had a professor that had a word for it, something about as we become more intertwined socially and less isolated species become more peaceful if certain stimuli are present

But that doesn't fit the narrative Americans want to hear.

I dont know if its what we want to hear, but i do think the media creates a state of paranoia alot of times. But alot of that is just the digital age we live in. We hear instantly now about little incidents all over the world. We take in so much information. Probably too much.

I think a major reason why these crimes occur today when they didn't in previous generations is the hyper-sexualization of our culture that's happened in the last several decades.

However, the press shamelessly turns every one of these tragedies into a media event. Long after the search ends, and the need to alarm the public about an emergency has passed, they - especially the local and regional TV news outlets - will still be feasting on it.

I don't think that the media needs to provide the garish macabre to the public that they seem to go out of their way to do once it's been handed over to the justice system. Reporting goes away, and driving ratings becomes the point of it all, regardless of the impact this has over time on family and society.

Jesus, Hope the guy didn't get the Amber alert on his phone like we did... possibly setting other things in motion beyond than the abduction.

I don't completely agree nor disagree. I think the worst part is we only hear about the big cases. The abducted off the street by a stranger and killed cases.

The vast majority of child abuse and neglect is not reported by the media. Especially in Springfield. There are a few stories where I know what the news reported isn't actually what happened. Example, house burned down and kids bodies were found inside. What the news didn't say was the mother killed those children then burned the house down.

Local news kind of walks a line of community image protection on some stories.

According to 2011 stats, 4 children die a day in America because of child abuse and neglect. But that story won't get covered. And the majority will be by family.

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/fa...s/fatality.pdf

Say what???

It's one of those situations we all pray we never have to go through.

Were there so many creeps abducting kids and doing these things in the 1950s?