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Air pollution is known to cause diseases such as the respiratory system and decreases human intelligence. According to a study conducted by a research team at Colorado State University, they found that a new increase in air pollution was correlated with an increase in the number of violent crimes.
The research team polluted forest fires through satellite images through the National Incident-Based Reporting System managed by the FBI, military-level air pollution data from 2006 to 2013 observed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s seafloor mapping system. Three datasets were cross-analyzed up to the data.
Analysis of the relationship between air pollution and crime showed that the increase in pollutants, including PM 2.5, of particulate matter in the air, increased the incidence of crimes considered violent crimes in the FBI classification. For example, if the PM 2.5 increase in the amount of 10mg per 1m 3 violent crime rate will increase by 1.4%. When the concentration of ozone, which is the main component of the air pollutant oxidant, increases by 0.01 ppm, violent crime increases by 0.97%.
Violent crime is the only increase in the rate caused by air pollution, and other crimes such as theft have not increased. The research team pointed out that the increase due to air pollution is likely to increase not only violent acts, but also words and rants that hurt people. People say that the more exposed they are to pollution, the more aggressive they may be, which may expand the debate.
The tools the research team used to analyze air pollution and crime data were originally developed for air pollution and health damage research. The developer measured how smoke and PM 2.5 correlate with respiratory disease hospitalization or asthma inhaler demand, but the research team said they wanted to meet with the developer of the analysis tool to investigate how people’s behavior changes when they smoke.
One of the researchers explained that they experienced a wildfire a few years ago, and the smoke from the wildfire became so intense that they wondered whether frustration and increased aggression from air pollution would appear in criminal data statistics.
This study only revealed the correlation between air pollution and crime rates. The research team did not comment on the physiological and mechanical relationships that air pollution has on human behavior. Nevertheless, economically, a 10% reduction in PM 2.5 per day could save government spending on crime by $14 billion. It is the cost of air pollution that has been overlooked so far. Related information can be found here .
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