Although North Carolina's overall violent crime rate decreased last year, state Attorney General Roy Cooper sounded the alarm this morning about a nearly nine percent jump in the state's murder rate.
Cooper, during a press conference this morning, attributed the rise in murders to increased gang activity across the state, with a 52 percent increase from last year for juveniles arrested for the offense, Thomasi McDonald reports.
The attorney general said he supported current state legislation that seeks tougher penalties for gang activity and a bolstering of prevention efforts that will help steer young people away from gangs.
"We are in a battle with gangs for the hearts and minds of our children and we must win," Cooper said.
Cooper also noted that while the murder rate is up, rates for other violent crimes has decreased; rape ois down 5.2 percent, robberies are down 0.4 percent and aggravated assaults fell 0.6 percent.
The state also saw a rise in the property crime rate — burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft increased by 0.2 percent across the state.
More after the jump.
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"The larceny rate is an interesting figure because it drives the overall crime rate," said the attorney general, who noted that he has been hearing from local law enforcement recently that many larcenies are currently the result of increased gas drive offs due to high gas prices.
Overall, statistics the attorney general released this morning from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation shows that crime throughout the state has increased slightly by 0.1 percent. But Cooper also noted that the overall crime rate has dropped by 15 percent in the last 10 years.
"It has decreased even though the state’s population has grown by 19 percent," Cooper said.
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