Colorado State University. (2019, October 3). Exposure to air pollution increases violent crime rates. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 11, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003114007.htm
A set of studies done by Colorado State University researchers has found that breathing polluted air can not only make you sick, but it can also make you more aggressive. The team found strong links between short-term exposure to air pollution and aggressive behavior, in the form of aggravated assaults and other violent crimes across the United States. The results are collected by analyzing data from three separate studies that link up criminal behavior and air pollution/air quality.
The first dataset analyzed was the daily criminal activity from the National-Based Reporting System which is managed by the FBI. The second was county-level air pollution from 2006-2013 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The final dataset was wildfire smoke plumes from satellite imagery from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hazard Mapping System. Researchers also found that a 0.01 parts-per-million increase in same-day exposure to ozone is associated with a 0.97 percent increase in violent crime, and a 1.15 percent increase in assaults. I feel like there were a few flaws in this experiment because it did not say they took into account the weather, heat waves, or other crucial factors.
This is a really interesting study. I never thought that air pollution may have a possible relationship with aggression. However, like you said I also feel like there may be a few flaws in this experiment. What would you do differently in order to make this experiment more sound?
Very intriguing research. Like cahal, I never thought to connect air pollution to crime and aggression. I wonder if the research team considered or looked into how different sources of air pollution (wildfires, vehicle emissions, etc.) affects behaviors?