We're much safer now.
The thing that has changed between then and now is communication- we hear far more about the child abuse and such now, due to better communications. We also have tons more laws now than then designed to protect us from ourselves- seat belt laws, workplace safety laws, all the nanny laws that came about from people doing stupid things. The nanny laws is where lawyers have been to blame- they've shifted the blame from the person who did the stupid thing to the corporation whose product was in use when the person did something stupid.

Truth is, we're healthier, safer and generally more likely to live to an old age than people were less than a hundred years ago. The people who tell you how wonderful things were in the 1950s have on their Good Ol' Days goggles.

EDIT: and by the way, a lot of the swelling of prison populations can be attributed to changes in laws, rather than increases in crimes. People are jailed now for things that would have merely gotten them a fine in the 1950s. Drunk driving springs to mind...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 30 Jul 2008, 16:55, Reply)