From googling the first major study was released in 2000. Before that the connection to brain damage was known.
Was the connection to crime specifically discussed at all, even though it wasn’t proven?
From googling the first major study was released in 2000. Before that the connection to brain damage was known.
Was the connection to crime specifically discussed at all, even though it wasn’t proven?
Well I didn’t mention, I’m asking if it was hypothesized in the 70s. I’m asking if it was considered in the 70s. I’m asking if it was discussed in the 70s as a possible reason for the high crime rate.
I agree the proof didn’t come until much later, with the first big study in 2000. But before things are proven they can be hypothesized and discussed for a long time beforehand.
I agree with other factors also playing a role. For right now I’m just asking if lead specifically was discussed as a possible cause for the crime race.
No the 70s and 80s were all about blaming poor people for crime. I was a teenager when the ban on leaded gas started happening and I can’t remember anyone ever mentioning the effects of lead as a driver of crime. I do remember discussing it in science class, but it was just starting to be understood at the time that lead exposure could lower your IQ and was around that time that the “no safe levels of lead exposure” was established. Before that it was just one of those things you had to be careful around. It wasn’t until well after the crime rate started to drop so dramatically in the 90s that people went looking for the reasons why