Environmental Policy as Social Policy?  The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime

Reyes, Jessica Wolpaw

doi:10.3386/w13097

Cited by 106 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Still, animal research may not hold for humans. There are, however, numerous studies of the effects of lead exposure on human behavior (for review of this issue see, Narag, Pizarro, and Gibbs, 2009;Reyes, 2007). The effects of lead on human behavior and health have long been examined through epidemiological studies.…”

Section: Lead and Human Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring green criminology: toward a green criminological revolution

2014

Choice Reviews Online

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Section: Lead and Human Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring green criminology: toward a green criminological revolution

2014

Choice Reviews Online

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“…For example, Reyes (2007) noted that estimates indicate that the reduction in lead exposure in the 1970s is responsible for a 56% drop in violent crime in the 1990s and will likely produce further declines in the future, up to 70% drop in violent crime by the year 2020. (p. 36) Lead removal has also been estimated to cut in half the number of children who receive formal diagnoses of intellectual disability and are therefore eligible for special education (Nevin, 2009), confirming a prediction made two decades ago (Needleman, 1990;Weiss, 1988).…”

Section: Economic and Social Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This single act has been estimated to have resulted in a halving of violent crime (Reyes, 2007) and of the number of individuals eligible for a diagnosis of mental retardation (Nevin, 2009), and many have argued that further action may have even greater benefits (Gilbert & Weiss, 2006). The addition of lead to gasoline in the 1930s imposed a massive societal cost, one that was difficult to detect in comparison with chemicals that cause functional deformities or cancer.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental health and behavior analysis: Contributions and interactions.

Newland¹

2013

APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis, Vol. 2: Translating Principles Into Practice.

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The heightened public awareness that environmental contaminants can act on the nervous system and have effects that appear in behavior presents a major challenge to behavioral scientists in all areas. They are being asked to conduct both hazard assessment (are there neurobehavioral effects of some chemical at any dose?) and risk assessment (what is the risk to a population at a specific level of exposure?) for behavioral effects that are not always well understood. The heavy metal lead provides an excellent example. Concern over lead poisoning lies in claims that it lowers scores on IQ tests, retards academic performance, and results in disruptive and even criminal behavior. The problems posed are daunting: How easy is it to detect a 5-point drop in scores on IQ tests? Can scientists predict these effects from experimental models using laboratory animals? Can they identify behavioral and neural mechanisms that account for these effects? What economic costs are incurred if the average IQ drops a few points, and how does this cost compare with that of reducing lead in the environment?These concerns are reflected in policymaking. Federal legislation and regulation of toxic substances specifically include behavior, including schedule-controlled operant behavior, as a regulatory endpoint (Tilson, 1990). The inclusion of nervous system damage in general, and its behavioral manifestations in particular, represents a sea change in public concern over unintended exposure to chemicals. Where cancer has been (and still is) a significant concern, the recognition that adverse behavioral effects follow certain types of chemical exposure is increasing. These effects carry over into a large number of domains. Environmental contaminants, even at very low exposure levels, contribute to disorders across the life span, including developmental disabilities and the hastening of age-related impairments. Behavioral scientists' understanding of how this happens not only has public policy implications but can also inform them about the behavior and neurobiology surrounding these disorders.

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“…However, an important limitation of both studies is the lack of information on place of birth. As a result, Sanders (2012) effectively assigns birth location based on county of high school attendance, while Reyes (2007) assigns exposure based on state of crime occurrence around age 20. These analyses may therefore be affected by bias from endogenous mobility responses and measurement error.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sanders (2012) analyzes the relationship between early-life air pollution and high school test scores in Texas, while Reyes (2007) examines the effects of early-life lead exposure on young adult crime. However, an important limitation of both studies is the lack of information on place of birth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Every Breath You Take—Every Dollar You’ll Make: The Long-Term Consequences of the Clean Air Act of 1970

Isen¹,

Rossin‐Slater²,

Walker³

2017

Journal of Political Economy

263

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This paper examines the long-term impacts of in-utero and early childhood exposure to ambient air pollution on adult labor market outcomes. We take advantage of a new administrative data set that is uniquely suited for addressing this question because it combines information on individuals' quarterly earnings together with their counties and dates of birth. We use the sharp changes in ambient air pollution concentrations driven by the implementation of the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments as a source of identifying variation, and we compare cohorts born in counties that experienced large changes in total suspended particulate (TSP) exposure to cohorts born in counties that had minimal or no changes. We find a significant relationship between TSP exposure in the year of birth and adult labor market outcomes.

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Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime

Cited by 106 publications

References 46 publications

Exploring green criminology: toward a green criminological revolution

Exploring green criminology: toward a green criminological revolution

Environmental health and behavior analysis: Contributions and interactions.

Every Breath You Take—Every Dollar You’ll Make: The Long-Term Consequences of the Clean Air Act of 1970

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