Early Lead Exposure Linked to Criminal Behavior

Research into data from a childhood lead study in Ohio indicates a direct link between prenatal and early-childhood lead exposure and an increased risk for criminal behavior in later life. The research evolved from a 30-year study of childhood lead exposure at the University of Cincinnati.

The study is the first to demonstrate an association between early exposure to lead and adult criminal behavior.

A 30-Year Study

"Previous studies either relied on indirect measures of exposure or failed to follow subjects into adulthood to examine the relationship between lead exposure and criminal activity in young adults," said Kim Dietrich, principal investigator of the study, in a news release.

"We have monitored this specific sub-segment of children who were exposed to lead both in the womb and as young children for nearly 30 years," he said. "We have a complete record of the neurological, behavioral and developmental patterns to draw a clear association between early-life exposure to lead and adult criminal activity."

Higher Rates of Arrests

The study is part of a Cincinnati Children's Environmental Health Center study that began between 1979 and 1984 with participants that included pregnant women who lived in Cincinnati neighborhoods with a higher concentration of older, lead-contaminated housing.

Dietrich and his team found that those with higher levels of lead exposure before birth and during early childhood had higher rates of arrest for both violent and total crimes that the rest of the population. Of the 250 children studied, 55 percent of the 250 children studied had at least one arrest.

In the study, Dietrich wrote that although both environmental lead levels and crime rates have dropped in the past 30 years in the U.S., they have not dropped in a uniform way.

Reducing Violent Crime

"Lower income, inner-city children remain particularly vulnerable to lead exposure," he explains. "Although we've made great strides in reducing lead exposure, our findings send a clear message that further reduction of childhood lead exposure may be an important and achievable way to reduce violent crime.

"Aggressive or violent behavioral patterns often emerge early and continue throughout life," adds Dietrich. "Identifying the risk factors that may place youth on an early trajectory toward a life of crime and violence should be a public health priority."

The study was published in the May 27, 2008 issue of the journal PLoS Medicine.