The main cause of the raise and fall of crime in the 20th century was lead

[Barrister]

In Canada, native reserves have a disproportionate amount of violent crime, and most of them are rural and remote.

Are the natives on reserves getting extra lead - or is it other historical, sociological and cultural factors at work?

ah this.  It's simple, actually.  Remove alcohol and drugs from indian reservations and the crime rate drops to below the national average.

I've been to dry communities.  They have almost as much alcohol and drugs as any other first nation community.

[LaCroix]

I've been to dry communities.  They have almost as much alcohol and drugs as any other first nation community.

why have law enforcement failed our communities? 

[Ideologue]

In Canada, native reserves have a disproportionate amount of violent crime, and most of them are rural and remote.

Are the natives on reserves getting extra lead - or is it other historical, sociological and cultural factors at work?

ah this.  It's simple, actually.  Remove alcohol and drugs from indian reservations and the crime rate drops to below the national average.

I've been to dry communities.  They have almost as much alcohol and drugs as any other first nation community.

Man, I totally just watched the Untouchables for the first time the other day.  It's rad.

[Viking]

In Canada, native reserves have a disproportionate amount of violent crime, and most of them are rural and remote.

Are the natives on reserves getting extra lead - or is it other historical, sociological and cultural factors at work?

ah this.  It's simple, actually.  Remove alcohol and drugs from indian reservations and the crime rate drops to below the national average.

I've been to dry communities.  They have almost as much alcohol and drugs as any other first nation community.

Dry communities are usually wetter than we ones.. primarily since making the place dry doesn't work and the reason for making the place dry was because they were all lushes that beat their wives and girlfriends. When I was in Karratha it was near (45 minute drive, I never went there) from a dry aboriginal community and since the aboriginies drove into karratha and filled their cars from the bottle shop we were limited to buying one bottle of wine/spirits or one sixpack of beer per day. When the oilpatch wives were hosting they had to start accumulating alcohol weeks in advance. Note, there was just one bottleshop in an australian town of 10,000; needless to say this caused much trepidation by the non-aboriginies in town.

[DGuller]

In the US, rates of crime were higher in inner-city (Black) ghettos. In Canada, the high crime rates are in rural (native) ghettos. The same explaination cannot (easily) explain both.

You're oversimplying.  The theory doesn't posit that lead explains 100% of crime.  A child who grows up lead-free is not guaranteed to live a crime-free life.  Rather that, while holding all other relevant factors constant, increased exposure to lead leads to more criminal activity.

It actually comes very close to claiming that it explains 100% of crime.  It claims to explain 90% of variance, which is a correlation almost strong enough to imply algebraic equality.  When one variable explains 90% of variance, you really are not leaving much explanatory power to any other independent variable.  It sounds so good that I wonder if I'm misreading or misunderstanding something.

[DGuller]

In the US, rates of crime were higher in inner-city (Black) ghettos. In Canada, the high crime rates are in rural (native) ghettos. The same explaination cannot (easily) explain both.

You're oversimplying.  The theory doesn't posit that lead explains 100% of crime.  A child who grows up lead-free is not guaranteed to live a crime-free life.  Rather that, while holding all other relevant factors constant, increased exposure to lead leads to more criminal activity.

It actually comes very close to claiming that it explains 100% of crime.  It claims to explain 90% of variance, which is a correlation almost strong enough to imply algebraic equality.  When one variable explains 90% of variance, you really are not leaving much explanatory power to any other independent variable.  It sounds so good that I wonder if I'm misreading or misunderstanding something.

Never mind, that 90 percent of variation figure comes just from analyzing lead levels and crime levels by year.  Lead levels by year can be highly correlated with other variables, so those other variables can actually assume a huge chunk of that 90 percent figure.

[The Minsky Moment]

It's plausible.  After all, Superman can't see through lead, and thus supercriminals can hatch their diabolical plots in secret.

[Eddie Teach]

It's plausible.  After all, Superman can't see through lead, and thus supercriminals can hatch their diabolical plots in secret.

The man brings up a valid point.