Abstract

This study advances the literature by examining the effect of carbon monoxide emissions on the degree of physical violence exhibited by a criminal offender during the commission of a criminal offense. A multilevel analysis is conducted to probe the relationship between carbon monoxide levels and whether a criminal offender physically injures his or her victim. The offender-level data are drawn from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and represent 139,709 single offender/single victim crime incidents for 109 cities in 22 states during 2015. Carbon monoxide concentration and city-level contextual control variables are drawn from other sources. Results show that while carbon monoxide emissions have little effect on the overall level of physical violence displayed by a criminal offender, both the offender’s race and sex moderate the relationship between air pollution and victim injury. As carbon monoxide levels rise in a city, both black and male offenders are more likely to injure their victims physically. We theorize that black and male offenders are more vulnerable to the violence-inducing effects of air pollution because of pronounced racial and sex differences in carbon monoxide exposure.

中文翻译：

---

空气污染和暴力犯罪行为

摘要

本研究通过检查一氧化碳排放对刑事犯罪者在实施刑事犯罪期间表现出的身体暴力程度的影响来推进文献。进行多层次分析以探讨一氧化碳水平与犯罪者是否对受害者造成身体伤害之间的关系。犯罪者层面的数据来自国家事件报告系统，代表 2015 年 22 个州 109 个城市的 139,709 起单一犯罪者/单一受害者犯罪事件。一氧化碳浓度和城市层面的背景控制变量来自其他来源。结果表明，虽然一氧化碳排放量对刑事犯罪者所表现出的身体暴力的总体水平几乎没有影响，犯罪者的种族和性别都缓和了空气污染与受害者伤害之间的关系。随着城市中一氧化碳水平的升高，黑人和男性罪犯都更有可能伤害受害者的身体。我们的理论是，由于一氧化碳暴露的明显种族和性别差异，黑人和男性罪犯更容易受到空气污染诱发暴力的影响。