The wife and I walk streets for exercise in Maine and when we are in Mexico. Although I conceal carry in Maine we feel safer in Mexico when we're out walking in the evening unarmed.
In Maine one dark night we were walking in a nice neighborhood when two young men approached us and asked for a cigarette (how old is that line?) Anyhow, I'm fairly tall and didn't appear worried or nervous and they left us alone. Something like that has never happened in Mexico to us.
Children are nowhere to be seen on the streets at night in the US while they are out in numbers in Mexico.