General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Mom arrested for letting her kids play outside. [View all]alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)The Center for Missing and Exploited Children wasn't created until 1984. Think of the "famous" child abduction cases: Etan Patz (1979), Adam Walsh (1981). Think of one before that time that's not something like Leopold and Loeb. I'm betting you can't, because they never made big news. It was a sidenote in our society. The very nature of childhood changed dramatically during the early 1980's, but not because the instances of crimes against children increased. Rather, they came on radar, became an element of our discourse. A particular kind of childhood was invented in the early 20th century (there are many brilliant historical works on the history of childhood), and a new one was invented again in the late 1970's and through the early 80's.