title: The intersection of aggregate-level lead exposure and crime.
abstract: Childhood lead exposure has been associated with criminal behavior later in life. The current study aimed to analyze the association between elevated blood lead levels (n=59,645) and crime occurrence (n=90,433) across census tracts within St. Louis, Missouri.
  
  
  
  Longitudinal ecological study.
  
  
  
  Saint Louis, Missouri.
  
  
  
  Blood lead levels.
  
  
  
  Violent, Non-violent, and total crime at the census tract level.
  
  
  
  Spatial statistical models were used to account for the spatial autocorrelation of the data. Greater lead exposure at the census-tract level was associated with increased violent, non-violent, and total crime. In addition, we examined whether non-additive effects existed in the data by testing for an interaction between lead exposure and concentrated disadvantage. Some evidence of a negative interaction emerged, however, it failed to reach traditional levels of statistical significance (supplementary models, however, revealed a similar negative interaction that was significant).
  
  
  
  More precise measurements of lead exposure in the aggregate, produced additional evidence that lead is a potent predictor of criminal outcomes.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3550 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103-1021, United States; Department of Epidemiology, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104-1399, United States. Electronic address: boutwellb@slu.edu.
authors.forename: Brian B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Boutwell
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104-1399, United States.
authors.forename: Erik J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104-1399, United States.
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Emo
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3550 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103-1021, United States.
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Vaughn
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104-1399, United States.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schootman
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis, One University Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63121, United States.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosenfeld
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College for Public Health & Social Justice, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104-1399, United States.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002947:Cities; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D008923:Missouri
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007854:Lead
keywords: Aggregate lead exposure; Non-violent crime; Total crime; Violent crime