Abortion Cuts Crime? Or less lead leads to less crime?

[Flannel Boy]

The theory offered by the economist, Rick Nevin, is that lead poisoning accounts for much of the variation in violent crime in the United States. It offers a unifying new neurochemical theory for fluctuations in the crime rate, and it is based on studies linking children's exposure to lead with violent behavior later in their lives.

What makes Nevin's work persuasive is that he has shown an identical, decades-long association between lead poisoning and crime rates in nine countries.

"It is stunning how strong the association is," Nevin said in an interview. "Sixty-five to ninety percent or more of the substantial variation in violent crime in all these countries was explained by lead."

Through much of the 20th century, lead in U.S. paint and gasoline fumes poisoned toddlers as they put contaminated hands in their mouths. The consequences on crime, Nevin found, occurred when poisoning victims became adolescents. Nevin does not say that lead is the only factor behind crime, but he says it is the biggest factor.

Because the countries phased out lead at different points, they provide a rigorous test: In each instance, the violent crime rate tracks lead poisoning levels two decades earlier.

"It is startling how much mileage has been given to the theory that abortion in the early 1970s was responsible for the decline in crime" in the 1990s, Nevin said. "But they legalized abortion in Britain, and the violent crime in Britain soared in the 1990s. The difference is our gasoline lead levels peaked in the early '70s and started falling in the late '70s, and fell very sharply through the early 1980s and was virtually eliminated by 1986 or '87.

In 2002, Herbert Needleman, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh, compared lead levels of 194 adolescents arrested in Pittsburgh with lead levels of 146 high school adolescents: The arrested youths had lead levels that were four times higher.

"Impulsivity means you ignore the consequences of what you do," said Needleman, one of the country's foremost experts on lead poisoning, explaining why Nevin's theory is plausible. Lead decreases the ability to tell yourself, "If I do this, I will go to jail."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR2007070701073_pf.html

[TVC15]

So basically, if the US doesn't want to get its ass whipped in yet another war, we should be feeding our soldiers lead paint chips?

[Smooth Groove]

In before the lock. 

[Flannel Boy]

So basically, if the US doesn't want to get its ass whipped in yet another war, we should be feeding our soldiers lead paint chips?

I don't think making your soldiers dumber and more impulsive is a good idea.

In before the lock. 

That was the other thread. YOU LOSE

[Mandark]

I've heard the argument that the crack wars in the 80's spiked violent crime, and that a lot of the counterintuitive theories on crime rates basically rely on stuff that happened at the same time.

Still, why not spend a bit of cash on taking lead out of the water?  If they're right, we buy half a dozen IQ points, cheap.  If they're wrong, we still have less lead in the water.

[Mandark]

Forget lead, abortion, crack, the decline of parental authority, and the rise of the gun culture.  We've found the real culprit!

[youtube=425,350]CFgXVyeGh2A[/youtube]

[Flannel Boy]

I've heard the argument that the crack wars in the 80's spiked violent crime, and that a lot of the counterintuitive theories on crime rates basically rely on stuff that happened at the same time.

Still, why not spend a bit of cash on taking lead out of the water?  If they're right, we buy half a dozen IQ points, cheap.  If they're wrong, we still have less lead in the water.

Abortions for all, lead for none.

There are so many possible variables that influence the crime rate, but people tend to focus on the one's that serve their political interests.

Forget lead, abortion, crack, the decline of parental authority, and the rise of the gun culture.  We've found the real culprit!

[youtube=425,350]CFgXVyeGh2A[/youtube]

Clearly it's the lesbians. Woman have always caused more crime than men. And clearly lesbos are behind it all.

I think that segment was an excuse to play that girl fight.

[Tauntaun]

Clearly it's the lesbians. Woman have always caused more crime than men. And clearly lesbos are behind it all.

I think that segment was an excuse to play that girl fight.

dikes should be beaten with a cane shaped like a penis, justice ultimate!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

also it's fun to mess with women cause a girl can't hurt a boy, LOL 

[close]

[The Fake Shemp]

Bill O'Reilly on lesbian gangs!

[Flannel Boy]

Bill O'Reilly on lesbian gangs!

That's right, laugh you secular-progressive. What happens when these lesbian gangs start a war on Christmas? What happens when they gang rape Santa with their strap-ons?

[Tauntaun]

Bill O'Reilly on lesbian gangs!

oh man I didn't know that was from his show, must watch to see comedic effect.

[The Fake Shemp]

The WAR ON CHRISTMAS was the best bit of FOX journalism ever.  I remember getting everyone irritated on GAF when I'd post a new topic about it once or twice a day with O'Reilly-isms about the WAR (ON CHRISTMAS).

[Tauntaun]

Bill O'Reilly on lesbian gangs!

That's right, laugh you secular-progressive. What happens when these lesbian gangs start a war on Christmas? What happens when they gang rape Santa with their strap-ons?

I bet that's a hentai somewhere. 

[Tauntaun]

@ video, it's fight club for bitches

[Flannel Boy]

The WAR ON CHRISTMAS was the best bit of FOX journalism ever.  I remember getting everyone irritated on GAF when I'd post a new topic about it once or twice a day with O'Reilly-isms about the WAR (ON CHRISTMAS).

Yeah, that was fantastic.