Violent Criminals tend to be Physically Fit? (verse)

[Sententia]

A recent study has shown a correlation between people that are physically fit and people who commit violent crimes and end up in prison: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/he...cf2&ei=5087%0A

And now some random prison statistics

According to the US DoJ there are 2.3 million people in prisons or jails:
Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison Statistics

20% of those are from drugs and not classified as violent offenders.

In "The New Criminology," Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith say that two generations of statisticians found that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about 1/10th of 1% (Today it's just over 1%)

According to DOJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics (Special Report, 6/4/98) the national prison population sports 14.1% college graduates.

[doppelgänger]

Is there a testosterone/fitness/crime connection, perhaps?

[Sententia]

Originally Posted by doppelgänger

Is there a testosterone/fitness/crime connection, perhaps?

Perhaps... if you follow up on the new york times story you can find some deductions and theories etc. Narcissism is one. It just struck me as odd. However, even on television and the news the violent offenders do tend to be physically fit.

[doppelgänger]

The reason I ask is that testosterone levels do play a big role in boosting activity level and fitness, but they are also associated with aggressive behavior. Seems like a fruitful inquiry to see if testosterone isn't generally elevated above average in perpetrators of violent crime.

Of course, there's a bit of a chicken and egg problem, as exercising also increases testosterone levels.

[logician]

There is probably an inverse correlation between IQ and those who end up in prison, but that may almost be by definition.

[sandandfoam]

Raine et al., (1997)is interesting. In the study, brain function of a group of murderers who had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity were compared to a control group.
AS Psychology

[Sententia]

Originally Posted by doppelgänger

The reason I ask is that testosterone levels do play a big role in boosting activity level and fitness, but they are also associated with aggressive behavior. Seems like a fruitful inquiry to see if testosterone isn't generally elevated above average in perpetrators of violent crime.

Of course, there's a bit of a chicken and egg problem, as exercising also increases testosterone levels.

I believe woman are imprisoned less then men as well. (By some large factor... 10/100 or something...)

[logician]

Originally Posted by BalanceFx

I believe woman are imprisoned less then men as well. (By some large factor... 10/100 or something...)

Some has to do with the agressiveness of men, but some also due to societies outlook on crimes by women, i.e. the death sentence has rarely been given to women, even for the same crimes that were committed by men who got the death sentence. I think there is a religious factor here.