Does poor health cause crime?

Just found The New York Times / For Crime, Is Anatomy Destiny? via Hunter-Gatherer / Does poor health cause crime?

The blog looks like something for the watchlist (John Durant, did you read some Kim Stanley Robinson?) and the article is very interesting. Some highlights:

shorter men are 20 to 30 percent more likely to end up in prison than their taller counterparts

[...]

both men and women who were rated unattractive (as rated on a five-point scale) in high school were more likely to commit — or at least more likely to be caught while committing — one of seven crimes, including burglary and selling drugs, than those rated average or attractive.

[...]

Public health policies successful at reducing obesity among individuals in the population will not only make society healthier, but also safer.

Read the whole thing for the links between attractiveness and health, income and crime. Good find, hunter-gatherer-blogger John Durant. Now, here are two links from my to-blog list that are a bit related:

Los Angeles Times / Hunger breeds violence

hunger and conflict go hand in hand. Millions of people in poor countries suffer the burden. In 2008, protests over high food prices swept the globe

[...]

Empty stomachs breed panic and desperation, while extremist groups
[...] use food to advance their violent missions while undercutting security.

[...]

A crucial element to fighting conflict in poor countries is to ensure adequate food, proper nutrition and access to education. School meals programs promote education and nutrition by giving hungry schoolchildren at least one meal a day. Once children start eating a healthy meal, schools report remarkable increases in enrollment, attendance and academic performance, and they are less vulnerable to recruitment by rebel forces.

[...]

Ensuring that no child goes to school hungry is the single greatest investment we can make in building prosperous, healthy and stable societies.

Granted, that was a different perspective. Here is a third:

The New York Times / Therapists Report Increase in Green Disputes

As awareness of environmental concerns has grown, therapists say they are seeing a rise in bickering between couples and family members over the extent to which they should change their lives to save the planet.

In households across the country, green lines are being drawn between those who insist on wild salmon and those who buy farmed, those who calculate their carbon footprint and those who remain indifferent to greenhouse gases.

The link between poverty, health, pollution and conflicts was also something I blogged about for the year 2008 Blog Action Day: Pollution, poverty, war, lights, camera... action!