Whatever is causing these convicts to be criminal, it isn't fitness and exercise.
Posted on 07/16/2008 2:43:54 PM PDT by forkinsocket
Thinking about a life of crime? You may want to hit the gym first.
A new study that looked at the physical characteristics of about 5,000 Arkansas inmates found that most were athletically fit when they entered prison. The researchers referred to them as mesomorphs.
Oh, there were also endomorphs and ectomorphs — fatties and skinnies to the lay people. But the study found that they were less likely to have been imprisoned for violent crimes.
The researchers, whose study appears in The Social Science Journal, used body mass index, a measure of height and weight, to assess fitness.
Scientists have long explored whether physical traits play a role in criminality — a field that has fallen into disrepute when its practitioners advanced claims about characteristics like race.
The new study does find that mesomorphs make up an unusually large percentage of the prison population, from 62 percent to 73 percent.
But that does not mean that being fit is a predictor of criminal tendencies, said one of the authors, Jeffery T. Walker of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
But I'm too lazy to get my fat butt off the couch to do it.
Fitness equals crime.... hmmm.
I don’t think the fact that I run and go to the gym will make me become a criminal. But what do I know.
If they had printed their study on toilet paper, perhaps it would be useful. BMI says nothing about body composition.
I would have loved if they measured the inmates Testerone levels. That would have been a better qualifier.
A physically fit person could also choose to be a soldier, or to work at a physically demanding job. A side benefit is that strongarm robbers tend to pass up the physically fit and go for the lame.
No wonder the whole freaking world believes in AGW.
“BMI says nothing about body composition.”
Correct.
Whatever is causing these convicts to be criminal, it isn't fitness and exercise.
We all use the advantages we have: the nerds, their brains; the strong, their strength.
*If this were true, prisons should be filled with young, white male homosexuals.*
What makes you think they aren’t? I know, some aren’t white, some aren’t old. But prison ain’t co-ed.
This study is stupid, regardless. I could draw a conclusion from it that mesomorphs are just too dumb not to get caught after committing their crimes and it would be just as “valid.”
Most of the useful projects have already been done, for now. So the researchers now do cr*p like this.
I saw another grim statistic—98% of violent felons drank a lot of milk while they were growing up.
Wait, maybe they’re onto something. If you consider the roster of past Cincinatti Bengals teams, and their BMI vs incarceration rate, divided by the square root of Pelosi’s IQ (or Pi, they’re about the same). Maybe I should apply to the feds for a grant, to expand on this navel gazing, er I mean, research.
They are probably almost all in their 20s.
People in their 20s are generally in their best shape. I was in my best shape in my 20s.
Cassius had a lean and hungry look about him which Caesar did not care for. Wily E Coyote was skinny. Snidley Whiplash was skinny as was the character usually cast as Simon Legree. If heavy guys are cast as bad guys they are usually bullies as Brutus in Popeye.
simply because most of them are animals... and you never see a FAT wild animal.
People stay fit for various reasons. Some of those reasons are more on the "it makes me look good and score" and less of the "to have a healthy and long life.. blah blah blah".
I'm into bodybuilding and a lot of these guys are very self centered and don't care about anyone but themselves.
Kind of like what makes a criminal a criminal.
Oh and it's a bit easier to beat the snot out of someone when you can press 300+
True. I’m not a big guy or anything, but I enjoy a good workout a couple times a week.
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