As the four Republicans vying for their party's presidential nomination took the stage for a debate in Jacksonville Thursday night, HLN's Nancy Grace focused on the impact their policies and positions could have on victims of crime.

Grace said she was stunned that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich's opposition to abortion extends to victims of rape and incest impregnated by their attackers.

"It's not just about the fetus itself. It's about the crime victim, the rape or the incest victim, that will have to live with a pregnancy and then give birth to the product of a rape," Grace said.

Grace also questioned Rep. Ron Paul's past opposition to a national Amber Alert system, but child advocate Marc Klaas echoed the congressman's concerns about imposing federal control on a program that was already working effectively on a state level.

Klaas, whose daughter Polly was kidnapped and murdered in 1993, said, "The Amber Alert system as it was originally conceived in Texas was a pristine system that used local law enforcement to notify local media to notify a local population but… quite frankly it's been morphed into a federal bureaucracy."

For all of the latest crime and justice news, watch "Nancy Grace" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST on HLN or go to HLNtv.com

Presidential candidates often talk about national security - issues of defense spending, counter-terrorism policy and protecting the country from outside threats. But at this point in the process, the candidates running for the 2012 Republican nomination have spoken much less about the dangers that lurk in our own towns and neighborhoods.

With the final debate before next week’s Florida primary taking place tonight, HLN’s Nancy Grace is looking at some of the issues that hit closer to home and affect you and your family on a daily basis. What would the candidates do to keep killers off the streets and save our children from sexual predators?

Do the candidates support the death penalty and under what circumstances? Where would they draw the line when it comes to pardons and early release of criminals? Do they favor tougher sentences and stricter monitoring for convicted sex offenders? Will they devote resources to putting more police on the streets and provide support to law enforcement?

How far are these candidates willing to go to protect you and your children?

One crime-related issue that did arise in the campaign recently was voting rights for convicted felons. At a January 16 debate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who supported a bill allowing felons who have completed their sentences to vote, challenged former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney about his position on the matter.

"I don't think people who have committed violent crimes should be allowed to vote again,” Romney said, though Santorum then questioned why he did not try to change the law to stop ex-cons from voting in Massachusetts while he was in office.

In 2003, Rep. Ron Paul voted against a bill to support a national Amber Alert program. However, according to the Congressional Record, he explained that he thought Amber Alert systems had been successful on a state level but he felt a federal program “is neither constitutionally sound nor effective law enforcement.”

Paul has also argued that the war on drugs is “a detriment to personal liberty” and suggested it may be less successful than prohibition was in the 1920s. In contrast, Newt Gingrich said in a Yahoo! News interview in November that he opposes giving states control over legalization of marijuana and that the federal government should be more aggressive in prosecuting drug offenses.

The Nancy Grace team has asked the campaigns of the four republican candidates and President Obama about all of these issues and more. We also looked at their records and their public statements to see where they stand on keeping our streets safe.

What do you want to hear from the candidates about crime and public safety? What questions would you ask them? Call in tonight at 8 p.m. to talk to Nancy and our panel of experts: 1-877-NANCY-01

Nancy Grace Special: Candidates & Crime airs Thursday at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST only on HLN.

The mother of the teenage girl who Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was convicted of beating to death with a golf club said Wednesday that more than 35 years later, her family continues to struggle with their loss and Skakel’s legal maneuvering.

Appearing on HLN’s Nancy Grace, Dorthy Moxley said, "It never goes away, never ever goes away, and it just, it makes you more certain that you have to go out there and be on your toes and just, you know, do as much as you can to fight crime."

Skakel, who has always maintained his innocence, was back in court this week arguing for a shorter sentence for his 2002 conviction in the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. According to the Hartford Courant, Skakel told a panel of judges that he has passed three sodium pentathol tests and he urged them to give him a polygraph to prove he did not kill the 15-year-old Greenwich girl. Sodium pentathol is known as the "truth drug."

In court Tuesday, Skakel turned to face Dorthy Moxley and said he prays for her and her slain daughter every day, NBC’s “Today Show” reported.

Dorthy and John Moxley, Martha’s brother, said in court that they believed Skakel should serve his full 20-year sentence for the murder. Skakel’s attorneys have argued that he should have been tried and sentenced in juvenile court since he was also only 15 when the crime occurred.

“There is no way you can be sure someone is telling the truth,” Dorthy Moxley told Nancy Grace. “Polygraphs don’t work… I believe in the golden rule, treat other people as you know you would like them to treat you, and I believe in the Ten Commandments. And you know, Michael Skakel has broken all of these.”

Don't miss “Nancy Grace” weekdays at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET on HLN or go to HLNtv.com

The American Psychiatric Association is considering changing its guidelines for the definition of autism.

With nearly two million children considered autistic in this country, the new guidelines could essentially eliminate a huge portion of people clinically diagnosed.

Nancy Grace breaks down what it means for you.

For the latest on this story, watch "Nancy Grace" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST or go to HLNtv.com

A vigil is scheduled for Monday night to remember a New York teenager who disappeared 25 years ago.

Family and friends of Joe Helt are gathering at the Pioneer Fire Hall in Ellenville on January 16, marking the anniversary of the night the 17-year-old was last seen leaving the abandoned Mount Cathalia lodge with three other teens after a party. According to the Daily Freeman, those teens later told police that their car got stuck in a ditch as they headed out of the mountains toward Ellenville and Helt decided to walk the five miles back to town alone.

Joe Helt

YNN reported that the search for Helt went on for six days afterward but was eventually called off because of bad weather and dangerous terrain.

Gina Schuster, a former classmate who runs a Facebook page devoted to Helt’s case, told the Shawangunk Journal that his family deserves answers and suggested there must be more to the story of what happened that night.

“Nobody disappears into thin air,” Schuster said.

HLN’s Nancy Grace said Thursday that the claims made by Casey Anthony to her own lawyers' mental health experts about her childhood and what happened to her daughter - as revealed in newly released deposition transcripts - are “practically unbelievable.”

In the depositions conducted in April 2011, Dr. Jeffrey Danziger and Dr. William Weitz recounted statements Anthony made to them about being molested as a child and believing her father, George Anthony, was responsible for her daughter Caylee’s death. George Anthony’s attorney issued a statement denying the allegations contained in the documents Wednesday afternoon.

Danziger and Weitz were initially offered by Anthony’s attorneys as expert witnesses, but the defense later removed them from their witness list and did not call them to testify at her trial.

Appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Grace said, “None of this was asserted in front of the jury because the defense knew it was a lie.”

ABC legal analyst Dan Abrams suggested that the depositions, and the differences between the stories Anthony told each doctor, indicated that the defense was still “evolving” into the one used during the trial: That Caylee drowned accidentally in the family pool and George Anthony helped cover it up.

“They looked at all their choices and they picked the defense that suited them the best,” Grace said of the version of events presented by attorney Jose Baez in his opening statement.

According to the transcripts, Danziger expressed concern during his deposition about sharing Anthony’s unproven allegations of sexual abuse, and Grace said that showed that “he did not even want to repeat the lies that tot mom Casey Anthony stated.”

For the latest on this and other crime stories, watch "Nancy Grace" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST on HLN.