Bartlett proposal calls for investigation into causes of violent crime

STATEHOUSE – In order to address the violence that propelled Marion County to its highest number of criminal homicides in seven years, the House passed Senate Bill 227 today with language authored by State Rep. John Bartlett (D-Indianapolis) that would authorize a study committee to investigate the causes of violent crimes in Indiana.

“The lack of education, lack of jobs and the chemicals used in our food could be attributing to the increase in violence and violent crimes throughout the state,” said Bartlett.

The amendment creates a study committee that would be comprised of physicians, psychologists, chemists, mental health professionals and economists in order to observe the trends that could be attributing to the increase in violence.

“We need to be looking at this problem from every angle in order to determine what’s causing these issues so we can figure out how to correct them,” said Bartlett.

“We want to approach this problem with a broad scope so that we can look into all possibilities for what leads people to act out in brutal violence, so that we can implement a plan to protect Hoosiers.”

Bartlett believes that the chemicals used in foods could be leading to an increase in violence among young adults. He fears that the lack of research invested in the effects of 80,000 chemical compounds in the average American diet, could be a problematic danger that could be leading to the surge of violence.

“We see people prescribed to blood pressure medication, cough syrup and various other medicines with labels that recommend the individual contact their physician before using it,” said Bartlett. “Yet we put many of these same chemicals in our foods, and no one is studying what kind of reaction this can cause.”

The bill returns to the Senate for concurrence to changes made in the House.