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FBI sees 17 percent increase in hate crimes compared to 2016

TU Curmudgeon

B.A. (Sarc), LLb. (Lex Sarcasus), PhD (Sarc.)
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From ABC News

FBI sees 17 percent increase in hate crimes compared to 2016

Two weeks after the deadly Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the FBI released it's 2017 hate crimes statistics which revealed a 17 percent increase in incidents since 2016.

In 2017 there were 8,493 victims and 6,307 known offenders. By comparison there were 7,509 victims and 5,727 known offenders in 2016, according to the data. It's also worth noting that more law enforcement agencies participated in reporting hate crime statistics in 2017.

COMMENT:-

Although some people are going to see this report as a call for immediate action to wipe out "the tsunami of hate that is sweeping the country" this article is actually a really good example of using the misunderstanding/misuse of statistics for fun and profit.

Why?

Because the article doesn't actually say anything.

Huh?

POINT 1 - If you had 100 agencies reporting in "Year 1" and they each reported ONE instance of "X", and then if you had 117 agencies reporting in "Year 2" and THEY each reported ONE instance of "X" then the NUMBER of instances of "X" would have increased by 17% BUT the RATE of "X" would have stayed the same.

POINT 2 - If you had 100 agencies reporting in "Year 1" and they each reported ONE instance of "X", and then if you had 200 agencies reporting in "Year 2" with the total number of instances of "X" reported would have increased by 17% BUT the RATE of "X" would have declined.

POINT 3 - Reporting that the NUMBER of instances is increasing is a good way to get more money put into your budget (and that money is even better if the RATE of instances is actually declining).
 
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