It seems difficult to find good news in today's world. Among the many nagging social problems, the one that attracts considerable public attention is crime.
Crime is one of the major concerns of American citizens.
Interestingly, though, if we look at crime rates over time, we find some encouraging trends in recent years not only for the United States as a whole, but for North Carolina as well. North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation recently released crime statistics for 1996. After decades of increase, we find that crime rates are continuing to decrease for the third year now. For example, violent crime rates reported to the police fell seven percent in 1996 with the murder and robbery rates dropping by ten and nine percent, respectively. The burglary rate also fell six percent last year.