America's Prison Population Is in Serious Decline

Re:America's Prison Population Is in Serious Decline by ern on Wednesday June 25, 2025 @08:02PM (#44382975)

I think lead is nasty stuff, but if it was the single cause of high crime, surely we'd see a similar effect in other domains, like a rebound effect on IQs (another thing lead was blamed for)?

Instead the Flynn Effect seems to have been strongest during the era of high lead, and it's tailing-off now.

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Re:America's Prison Population Is in Serious Decline by BobaFloutist on Wednesday June 25, 2025 @08:18PM (#44383049)

The only reasonable conclusion is that lead causes crime by making people smarter.

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Re:America's Prison Population Is in Serious Decline by hellzbellz123 on Wednesday June 25, 2025 @11:01PM (#44383849)

or maybe intelligence doesn't correlate with likeliness to commit crime?

plenty of criminals are intelligent.

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Re:America's Prison Population Is in Serious Decline by hellzbellz123 on Wednesday June 25, 2025 @11:13PM (#44383890)

below study claims test score variances are mostly related too declarative knowledge side note, i wonder how internet had an effect on iq scores.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01602...

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Re:America's Prison Population Is in Serious Decline by hirvi74 on Thursday June 26, 2025 @10:21AM (#44387705)

I'm not convinced these tests measure what they claim to. Even assuming they do, IQ scores offer little practical value.

The human body and mind are always adapting, however subtly, to changing environments. So I wonder -- are IQ tests assessing abilities that may no longer be optimal today?

Homer likely had an exceptional memory, as did many ancient Greeks that participated in oral traditions. But how relevant is memorizing epics in the modern world?

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