<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div id="yiv1801683432"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" id="bodyDrftID" class=""><tbody><tr><td id="drftMsgContent" style="font:inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:16px;"><div><br></div>On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:56 AM, Stathis Papaioannou<<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://us.mc583.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=stathisp@gmail.com" style="line-height:1.2em;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(0, 51, 153);outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">stathisp@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">> 2009/7/10 Rafal Smigrodzki <<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://us.mc583.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rafal.smigrodzki@gmail.com"
 style="line-height:1.2em;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(0, 51, 153);outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">rafal.smigrodzki@gmail.com</a>>:<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:48 AM, Stathis Papaioannou<<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://us.mc583.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=stathisp@gmail.com" style="line-height:1.2em;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(0, 51, 153);outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">stathisp@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>> 2009/7/9 Rafal Smigrodzki <<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://us.mc583.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rafal.smigrodzki@gmail.com" style="line-height:1.2em;text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(0, 51, 153);outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">rafal.smigrodzki@gmail.com</a>>:<br
 style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>>> ### Peer-reviewed research indicates otherwise:<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>>><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>>> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://law.jrank.org/pages/1368/Intelligence-Crime.html" style="line-height:1.2em;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(0, 51, 153);outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247596692_11" style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">http://law.jrank.org/pages/1368/Intelligence-Crime.html</span></a> and other<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>>> pages there, especially<br
 style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>>><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>>> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://law.jrank.org/pages/1364/Intelligence-Crime-R-20-meaningful-correlation-size.html" style="line-height:1.2em;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(0, 51, 153);outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1247596692_12" style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">http://law.jrank.org/pages/1364/Intelligence-Crime-R-20-meaningful-correlation-size.html</span></a><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>> The cited papers claim a "moderate correlation". That is not<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>> equivalent to
 claiming that if people were smarter there would be less<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>>> violent crime.<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>> ### Read again. "randomly assigning high
 IQs to low-IQ individuals<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>> would decrease their criminal behavior by about 30 percent (i.e., from<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">>> 60 percent to 40 percent)?certainly a meaningful change."<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">> And that's a completely unwarranted assumption based on the evidence<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">> of correlation. It's like discovering that people in prison are of<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">> below average height, and
 concluding that increasing the average<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">> height of the population will decrease crime.<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;"><br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">### No, it is not unwarranted, since in this case there is theoretical<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">validity to the assumption of causality. IQ is a measure of the<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">general ability to arrive at correct solutions to problems. Crimes are<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">solutions that are deemed incorrect by the lawmaker, and the law
 is<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">designed to increase the cost of such solutions in relation to other<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">solutions. Having a higher IQ allows you to arrive at the correct<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">solution, given available data, such as the expected utility of<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">mugging a stranger and spending a year in prison, vs. working<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;">productively and enjoying the fruits of your labor.<br style="line-height:1.2em;outline-style:none;outline-color:initial;"></span><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;line-height:16px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font
 class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;line-height:16px;">===============</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;line-height:16px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;line-height:16px;">But the correlation is equally consistent with the other theoretical explanation proposed in this thread, namely that stupid criminals get caught more often than smart ones.  If that's the case, raising the intelligence of the criminally minded
 might result in fewer of them being incarcerated--so that there would be more of them on the streets, and MORE crime.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;line-height:16px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;line-height:16px;">Rob Masters</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, helvetica, clean, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;line-height:16px;"><br></span></font></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></table><br>