Tagged: Crime

Mental health is a focus of national dialogue in the wake of mass shootings around the country. What makes people kill, seemingly without remorse?

A laboratory in Burlington will begin testing forensic evidence and building a regional database of DNA evidence in an effort to help local law enforcement agencies solve crimes. The privately owned DNA: SI Labs says it can test samples and provide results much more quickly than the State Bureau of Investigation.

State lawmakers' work in the last session means several new laws will take effect starting today. Legislators say anyone who engages in an act of terrorism will be subject to state as well as federal penalties. Threatening to use explosives, dirty bombs and using violence to intimidate people and governments will be treated as a felony.

There are many ways technology aids in the prevention of crime, but Elon University Law Professor Michael Rich has pondered how far should those methods go. What if software, computers and other digital equipment could actually prevent behavior leading up to a criminal act? Rich joins host Frank Stasio to talk about the social and moral implications of using technology at the risk of impeding on free will.

Crime doesn't pay, or so we've heard. In addition to jail or prison time, fines and community service, there are a host of collateral consequences that many people don't even know about. Access to higher education, housing and even jobs can be affected when you have a criminal record. Two lawyers have set up a database to help people understand the true penalties of different crimes.

Overall crime across the state is down by nearly one percent, according to the latest statistics from the North Carolina Department of Justice. That makes the 2011 crime rate the state's lowest since 1977. It also marks the third consecutive year of decline. It's not all good news, though. Murder is up by almost six percent. Overall crime in some Triangle-area counties, including Chatham and Franklin, appears to be on the rise.