I find it interesting that the perception is that violent crime is high, whereas a lot of US statistics show that these rates have been coming down since early 90s and present rates are closer to what they were during a short downturn in 83 and on the rising slope in the mid-70s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

Of course if you judge crime rates by media depictions, with two to ten murders a night on crime shows, and an emphasis on twisted crimes like cannibalism and wearing people's skin, you would think the nation was awash in mass murderers, child molesters, and villains so horrid they would turn the stomach of your average brain-eating zombie.

One thing to consider is that the overall crime rates have come down since the 90s but also a good proportion of the crimes, past and present, tended to be in select high-crime areas and focused on select sectors of the society like hookers and drug dealers. The crime rate for the average person not engaged in those activities and in those areas is considerably lower.

It pays to be careful but let's not waste energy being frightened by scary shadows and horror stories told around the campfire.