You bring up interesting points - kind of ironic since I originally meant these for the humorous irony rather than the more serious discussion side. Either way, you might be surprised that I actually agree with most of your points. I used to work in a nightclub and got to know many people who experienced similar examples of what you described. I learned how common things such as incest, abuse, and rape actually were and how they were commonly hushed up. And in a more minor example, I even remember my own father's family being embarrassed by cousins who were known for making moonshine - never seemed like that big a deal to me, but it sure was to them. You're absolutely right, things are a lot more known now, if for no other reason than easier access by virtue of technology such as the news media you pointed out.
I guess my original comments were more generalized "as a whole" rather than more specific exceptions such as the incest example. So "as a whole", I think the danger has grown - maybe not in every location/area at the same rate (I remember how much more polite people of Kansas City seemed in comparison to our area when we would visit there - but that was noticeably slowly changing over time too) - but it has changed - and for many reasons just like the news example you pointed out.
Let me try to give a summing example - the rural area seemed to have less danger, maybe due to less population and most knew their neighbors - but as the years and populations progressed, that seemed to change. We lived along a highway - when my grandparents were there, nobody ever thought of locking their doors (even though there were mobsters attending the supper club a half mile away (even my parents didn't learn until recent years that there was a brothel situation going on there, much less mobsters, so I'm certain my grandparents never knew)). I only heard of one time my grandfather locked things up like the basement windows...the night the news reported the Ed Gein reports (Plainfield is only ~40 miles away). But starting in the late 60's, we started to have to lock things up because we started to catch trespassers in sheds and experienced thefts...I even had a car stolen out of our driveway in the 80's...and finally we even had the house door kicked in one night. So we learned and adapted as the times changed even in our rural area - but it amazes me how many times we still notice people not locking their car doors when they go to a store...even my young daughter was pointing out the other day how someone left their keys in the ignition when they went into the store...and almost every week the police mention in the paper that people could prevent the thefts they called them for if they just would have locked their vehicle.
So on one hand, minor and major crime has always been there in one form or another - the difference I believe (depending on the area) is how frequent it is per area, how well known it is, and even how accepted it is - and I believe I've seen that change and is still changing in this area...and every area...just at different rates. I truly think you've made good points and I agree..I think we're saying similar things just in different ways about different portions of a very diverse subject.