4 ms·

Cops should do the same test. There was an NPR story a while back about a school, mostly black, that did poorly on a standardized test. The school officials dec

Cops should do the same test. There was an NPR story a while back about a school, mostly black, that did poorly on a standardized test. The school officials declared the test racist. The science teacher couldn’t find that from the test. He wondered about lead. Low and behold the school was full of lead poisoned children. They started treatment and the scores improved by the end of the year ( the also abated the houses with grant money). We know lead causes aggression issues. We know poor communities have higher incidence of lead in their homes. How many criminals could be prevented, or reformed with lead treatment?

tyu100 8y ago
The article was about why testing for lead in depression is probably not a good idea or at least not a better idea than a million other things.
- virmundi 8y ago
  I know. Lead testing is a soap box for me. Palatka has a high crime rate. I would love to know how much of it might be solved with cops testing.
  - bblough 8y ago
    If you're in Palatka, then I'm not far from you. If you want to meet up for coffee or a meal or something, my contact info is in my profile.
- jerf 8y ago
  The article was about the lack of utility of testing for it in individual psychiatric cases. When you have a correlated problem like an entire school underperforming for no apparent reason (that is, even by the standards of a poor school, it is exceptionally poor), the math changes a lot. You have a rational reason to suspect some sort of correlated cause.
crankylinuxuser 8y ago
I'd go further.. When a chemical that you were dosed with, and willingly did not and would never take, is determined that it made you do erratic and/or dangerous behavior, should the courts find you at fault? It's different when you willingly take a drug (eg: meth) and you end up hurting or killing someone on it. You chose to take the drugs which lead to violence. I know of nobody who willingly doses Pb.
deleted 8y ago
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tyu100 8y ago

The article was about why testing for lead in depression is probably not a good idea or at least not a better idea than a million other things.

virmundi 8y ago
I know. Lead testing is a soap box for me. Palatka has a high crime rate. I would love to know how much of it might be solved with cops testing.
- bblough 8y ago
  If you're in Palatka, then I'm not far from you. If you want to meet up for coffee or a meal or something, my contact info is in my profile.
jerf 8y ago
The article was about the lack of utility of testing for it in individual psychiatric cases. When you have a correlated problem like an entire school underperforming for no apparent reason (that is, even by the standards of a poor school, it is exceptionally poor), the math changes a lot. You have a rational reason to suspect some sort of correlated cause.

crankylinuxuser 8y ago

I'd go further.. When a chemical that you were dosed with, and willingly did not and would never take, is determined that it made you do erratic and/or dangerous behavior, should the courts find you at fault? It's different when you willingly take a drug (eg: meth) and you end up hurting or killing someone on it. You chose to take the drugs which lead to violence. I know of nobody who willingly doses Pb.

deleted 8y ago

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