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This Donahue-Levitt hypothesis does however, makes a lot of sense to me. It shows that 18 years after roe v wade legalized abortion in the US the crime rate began dropping sharply and nothing else seemed to account for it.
If your abortion theory had any validity, it would mean two things:
All other countries that have seen sharp declines in criminal behavior would have also have had to pass similar pro-abortion legislation similar to Roe v. Wade.
-and-
Women who would be inclined to abort pregnancies would need to predominantly belong to lower socioeconomic classes, as these classes tend to produce more criminals than middle to upper socioeconomic classes.
When scrutinized objectively, it is obvious that neither of the statements above are true. Combine that with the fact that banning lead as an additive in gasoline has resulted in declining crime rates along similar timelines in every country that bans have been introduced demonstrates the abortion theory as being false.
You won't like my answer, but its the truth. Life is always going to be sort of unfair.
Men don't have babies. Women have babies. Its woman who culturally and historically end up raising children when their mate decides to go his separate way. Its a long standing trait of human behavior. When men were out hunting for meat in the Stone Ages, women were back in the caves raising the children.
You can find exceptions to what I'm saying, but often the reason we pay attention to those exceptions is because they are rare or unique.
As such, prevention of an unplanned pregnancy--fair or not--will probably always fall more heavily on women.
That doesn't really answer my question, though. We can talk about our cavemen ancestors all we want, but we're beyond that. In a world where some men are strongly opposed to abortion, where men don't want to be stuck paying child support all their lives, or don't want to leave illegitimate children behind, why isn't there a bigger push?
It's absolutely not fair to lay all that pressure and fault with women, so why not make it more equal?
I suspect our gender doesn't want the added responsibility. We've been able to shrug it off for so long, so why stop now?
If your abortion theory had any validity, it would mean two things:
All other countries that have seen sharp declines in criminal behavior would have also have had to pass similar pro-abortion legislation similar to Roe v. Wade.
-and-
Women who would be inclined to abort pregnancies would need to predominantly belong to lower socioeconomic classes, as these classes tend to produce more criminals than middle to upper socioeconomic classes.
When scrutinized objectively, it is obvious that neither of the statements above are true. Combine that with the fact that banning lead as an additive in gasoline has resulted in declining crime rates along similar timelines in every country that bans have been introduced demonstrates the abortion theory as being false.
Thanks for the post this is interesting. I believe in clean air and healthy housing, this may be another piece of the puzzle, but you cannot deny the amount of abortions that have been done since roe v wade.
I wonder what are the long term effects from the addictive prescription drugs that often start being prescribed on children, will have on crime,especially now that many people are illegally addicted to them. Some blame these drugs for the killing sprees troubled men and boys are going on .
If your abortion theory had any validity, it would mean two things:
All other countries that have seen sharp declines in criminal behavior would have also have had to pass similar pro-abortion legislation similar to Roe v. Wade.
-and-
Women who would be inclined to abort pregnancies would need to predominantly belong to lower socioeconomic classes, as these classes tend to produce more criminals than middle to upper socioeconomic classes.
When scrutinized objectively, it is obvious that neither of the statements above are true. Combine that with the fact that banning lead as an additive in gasoline has resulted in declining crime rates along similar timelines in every country that bans have been introduced demonstrates the abortion theory as being false.
Actually this is the case here in the US a simple study of Abortions here in the US suggests this to be accurate. Abortion is most often committed by those with less education and poor .@ 62% of abortions are by non-whites. .Couple that with a search of what groups commit the most crime and you will see the numbers don't lie abortion cuts into that segment of the population that commits the most crimes....
From the CDC...
Thanks for the post this is interesting. I believe in clean air and healthy housing, this may be another piece of the puzzle, but you cannot deny the amount of abortions that have been done since roe v wade.
I wonder what are the long term effects from the addictive prescription drugs that often start being prescribed on children, will have on crime,especially now that many people are illegally addicted to them. Some blame these drugs for the killing sprees troubled men and boys are going on .
What prescription drugs?
There is evidence that anti-depressants and medications used to treat ADHD may actually be associated with a decrease in crime rates. This is plausible because those with mental illness are both more likely to commit crimes and more likely to be victims of it.
By lowering impulsivity and improving social and academic functioning, treatment of ADHD reduces the risk an individual will engage in criminal behavior.
Better mental health care is one area where we could expect major gains in the fight against crime.
There is evidence that anti-depressants and medications used to treat ADHD may actually be associated with a decrease in crime rates. This is plausible because those with mental illness are both more likely to commit crimes and more likely to be victims of it.
By lowering impulsivity and improving social and academic functioning, treatment of ADHD reduces the risk an individual will engage in criminal behavior.
Better mental health care is one area where we could expect major gains in the fight against crime.
Maybe so if diagnosed and prescribed properly, but if misdiagnosed or over medicated, psychiatric drugs can affect people in dangerous ways.They are associated with suicide.
Maybe so if diagnosed and prescribed properly, but if misdiagnosed or over medicated, psychiatric drugs can affect people in dangerous ways.They are associated with suicide.
The increased risk of suicidal thoughts or attempts appears to be in certain age groups. Untreated depression has a much greater risk.
That doesn't really answer my question, though. We can talk about our cavemen ancestors all we want, but we're beyond that. In a world where some men are strongly opposed to abortion, where men don't want to be stuck paying child support all their lives, or don't want to leave illegitimate children behind, why isn't there a bigger push?
If you are talking about male contraception here, then we already have condoms, vasectomies, and castration and will probably soon have RISUG/Vasalgel and Gandarusa.
Maybe so if diagnosed and prescribed properly, but if misdiagnosed or over medicated, psychiatric drugs can affect people in dangerous ways.They are associated with suicide.
I've heard this kind of argument before. What I've always thought is that something like this is more likely:
1. Mental health care and a diagnosis of depression are still stigmatic in many places in the country.
2. Many patients who need mental health care still aren't getting it.
3. The people who do get mental health care and their families are often quite desperate.
4. Many patients going on anti-depressants were already showing suicidal ideation
5. A patient commits suicide and some choose to blame the medication.
Its true that the patient was on antidepressants before they killed themselves. However, the problem likely is that they were pretty far advanced with depression and suicidal thoughts. They likely were not on the medication long enough to make a difference.
Its an issue of confusing correlation with causation. Rather, than the medication causing suicide, its more of a situation of severe depression caused them to be placed on antidepressant medication.
I have family members on SSRI medication for depression and its made a world of positive difference to them.
Last edited by markg91359; 05-13-2014 at 06:38 AM..
I've heard this kind of argument before. What I've always thought is that something like this is more likely:
1. Mental health care and a diagnosis of depression are still stigmatic in many places in the country.
2. Many patients who need mental health care still aren't getting it.
3. The people who do get mental health care and their families are often quite desperate.
4. Many patients going on anti-depressants were already showing suicidal ideation
5. A patient commits suicide and some choose to blame the medication.
Its true that the patient was on antidepressants before they killed themselves. However, the problem likely is that they were pretty far advanced with depression and suicidal thoughts. They likely were not on the medication long enough to make a difference.
Its an issue of confusing correlation with causation. Rather, than the medication causing suicide, its more of a situation of severe depression caused them to be placed on antidepressant medication.
I have family members on SSRI medication for depression and its made a world of positive difference to them.
Also, the medication may just not be effective for a particular patient. That would mean the drug did not prompt the suicide but was not able to prevent it. For some it may be that as their symptoms start to improve they reach a point that their apathy from the depression is relieved enough for them to actually act on the impulse for suicide. At any rate, there is no evidence that treating depression with medication causes people to become violent toward others.
Edited to add:
A new study shows treatment with anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers is associated with a reduction in violent crime:
The study cannot determine whether this is a causative effect, but patients committed fewer violent crimes when they were on medication than when they were not.
Last edited by suzy_q2010; 05-13-2014 at 07:54 AM..
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