I think it's because communicating is improving even more drastically than crime is decreasing, so the average person hears even more credible stores of crime a

I think it's because communicating is improving even more drastically than crime is decreasing, so the average person hears even more credible stores of crime and violence than they used to (think of the local evening news). It may fuel a perception that things are getting worse, when in reality our standards are rising, and the bad things are increasingly coming to our attention.