176. The Lead-Crime Hypothesis | THUNK
Channel: THUNK
Date: 2019-09-25

Violent crime quadrupled in the US between 1970 & 1990, then fell the same amount. What could have caused such a dramatic trend? Economics? Culture? ...Lead?

- Links for the Curious-

Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime  (Reyes, 2007) - http://www3.amherst.edu/~jwreyes/papers/LeadCrimeBEJEAP.pdf 

The Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 1971 - https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-84/pdf/STATUTE-84-Pg2078.pdf 

Rationally Speaking ep. 224 - Rick Nevin on "The long-term effects of lead on crime" - http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs-224-rick-nevin-on-the-long-term-effects-of-lead-on-crime.html 

“An Updated Lead-Crime Roundup for 2018” by Kevin Drum - https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/02/an-updated-lead-crime-roundup-for-2018/

This recent study has findings that seem contrary to the LCH:

Association of Childhood Blood Lead Levels With Criminal Offending (Beckley et al, 2018) - https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2666777

Witchcraft or Mycotoxin? The Salem Witch Trials (Woolf, 2000) - https://www.pendleton.k12.ky.us/userfiles/119/classes/401/witchcraft%20or%20mycotoxin.pdf