Raleigh, N.C. – New criminal laws will go into effect in North Carolina on Tuesday, WRAL reports. Some of the new laws range from sexual relationships between teachers and students to revenge porn and a new addition to cyberstalking laws.
The new criminal laws include:
- House Bill 113 makes it a felony for teachers, coaches and other school staff who are less than four years older than a victim to engage in sexual acts with students.
- Burt’s law makes it a crime for staff and volunteers of adult care homes for people with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities to fail to report abuse or physically harm residents. Staff and volunteers will now be required to notify the Division of Social Services, local law enforcement or the local district’s attorney office within 24 hours of the incident. The law also increases penalties for intentionally injuring residents and taking residents’ belongings.
- Senate Bill 286 requires that small bottles of fluid that include nicotine used for e-cigarettes or vapor products must have a child proof cap.
- A law aimed towards the safety of state fair rides was also passed. The new law creates penalties for people who tamper with safety devices on amusement rides. Ride operators will now be liable for fines and criminal penalties that will increase if someone is injured in related incidents.
- Another bill adds 12 synthetic hallucinogens to North Carolina’s list of Schedule 1 controlled substances.
- One law aims toward regulating the use of automatic license plate readers. Law enforcement will not be able to keep records of cars that pass by a certain location for more than 90 days. It is permitted if official are able to show that the records are relevant to criminal or missing persons investigations.
- Sheriffs will be allowed to look at only five years of someone’s history to decide if they meet “good moral character” requirements laid out for getting a permit to buy a handgun.
- It will soon be a felony to post “revenge porn”– explicit pictures of videos of someone posted without their consent if the post is “intended to harass, extort or intimidate the victim.” Victims can sue the people who post “revenge porn” for damages.
- It will now be a felony to assault a member of the National Guard who is discharging their official duties. It will also be a felony to assault licensed health care provides who are discharging their duties at a hospital.
- GPS tracking will now be under “cyberstalking,” a class two misdemeanor. Parents will be able to use a GPS on their kids, but it is illegal to use a GPS to monitor an adult’s activity.
