Air quality has always been thought of as a public health problem,

but is it an issue for public safety. In this episode, we examine how

pollution can impact levels of violent crime. Plus, how poor air

quality in prisons creates a hostile environment for inmates and

corrections officers.

Guests:

Dr Anne Chappelle

Toxicologist, Trinity Consultants

Erich Muehlegger

Professor of Economics at University of California, Davis

Jeremy Tripp

Policy Director, One Voice United

Angela Hawken

Vice Dean for Research, Johns Hopkins University School of

Government and Policy

Sources:

Air Pollution and Criminal Activity: Evidence from Chicago Microdata

by Evan Hernstadt and Erich Muehlegger, 2015 .

On-going research into environmental factors and behavioral data at

a prison on the East Coast, Dr Angela Haken.

Mukherjee A, Sanders NJ. The causal effect of heat on violence:

social implications of unmitigated heat among the incarcerated.

National Bureau of Economic Research; 2021.

Extreme Heat and Suicide Watch Incidents Among Incarcerated

Men, David H Cloud, Emory University, Brie A Williams University of

California, San Francisco, Regine Haardörfer, Emory University,

Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, Vanderbilt University, 2023.

Impact of heat on all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A multi-city

study in Texas, Chunyu Guo University at Albany, State University of

New York, Kevin Lanza The University of Texas Health Science

Center at Houston, Dongying Li Texas A&M University, Yuyu Zhou

The University of Hong Kong, 2023.

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