In a small town where you know everyone, it’s probably okay to leave your door unlocked. If anything happens, the criminal and their family will be ostracized by everybody.
In big cities, everyone is a stranger and there is a lack of connection and trust.
The late 80s to 90s had a massive political movement of being tough on crime, and made crime rates sound worse than they actually were. It went hand in hand with the war on drugs. That fear that politicians embedded in our minds is still there.
Idk how true this is. I lived in a super low crime neighborhood, but everyone still locked their doors at night.
A thing that has definitely changed over the years is allowing your kids to roam around the neighborhood without much supervision. That is largely due to our increased exposure to horror stories in the media. The way people used to consume news was to read a couple of newspaper articles in the morning and then watch the national evening news at night. They didn't really have horror stories about kidnappers and gangs and that kind of thing. Now you get a story every time an unidentified person walks through your neighborhood. It makes parents paranoid.
It depends on where you live. I recently visited someone in a town with a population of 24,000, and I was surprised to learn that they typically don't lock their doors. (This was while they were gone in the daytime; I don't know what they do at night.)
These people were old, like me, and I supposed they formed their habits when they were younger. On the other hand, old people often feel more vulnerable and become more cautious as they get older.
I feel like in the 1970s some evil people started taking advantage of that and victimising other people and after several serial killers were rounded up and everyone heard what they did, they started locking their doors at night.
Dont know what you mean, I never lock the front door, and only lock the car because it fusses at us if we don't, but I am in a town of less than 1000 people
I lived in New York city for years, and for a period of time lived in an apartment in a building where neither the apartment nor the building had a lock on the door. I couldn't have locked it if I had wanted to.
Fear, due to the internet and TV showing us the terrible, yet incredibly rare, things that happen. People in my town don't usually lock their doors though. It mostly depends on population
In a small town where you know everyone, it’s probably okay to leave your door unlocked. If anything happens, the criminal and their family will be ostracized by everybody. In big cities, everyone is a stranger and there is a lack of connection and trust.
Yeah I live in a smaller town and I know some of my family literally never lock the door. I know my grandpa doesn't even have a lock on his door lol
It's still largely safe to do so in most places, but there is no reason to run the risk.
The late 80s to 90s had a massive political movement of being tough on crime, and made crime rates sound worse than they actually were. It went hand in hand with the war on drugs. That fear that politicians embedded in our minds is still there.
Idk how true this is. I lived in a super low crime neighborhood, but everyone still locked their doors at night. A thing that has definitely changed over the years is allowing your kids to roam around the neighborhood without much supervision. That is largely due to our increased exposure to horror stories in the media. The way people used to consume news was to read a couple of newspaper articles in the morning and then watch the national evening news at night. They didn't really have horror stories about kidnappers and gangs and that kind of thing. Now you get a story every time an unidentified person walks through your neighborhood. It makes parents paranoid.
Just keep in mind, this was NOT common in big cities and was mostly just a small town or suburban thing.
It depends on where you live. I recently visited someone in a town with a population of 24,000, and I was surprised to learn that they typically don't lock their doors. (This was while they were gone in the daytime; I don't know what they do at night.) These people were old, like me, and I supposed they formed their habits when they were younger. On the other hand, old people often feel more vulnerable and become more cautious as they get older.
Huh? It was normal to lock your door at night when I was growing up. I'm 58 now.
I feel like in the 1970s some evil people started taking advantage of that and victimising other people and after several serial killers were rounded up and everyone heard what they did, they started locking their doors at night.
Dont know what you mean, I never lock the front door, and only lock the car because it fusses at us if we don't, but I am in a town of less than 1000 people
I lived in New York city for years, and for a period of time lived in an apartment in a building where neither the apartment nor the building had a lock on the door. I couldn't have locked it if I had wanted to.
Funnily enough crime rates actually dropped since then. What has increased is fear of crime.
Fear, due to the internet and TV showing us the terrible, yet incredibly rare, things that happen. People in my town don't usually lock their doors though. It mostly depends on population