Kudos to the NYPD for moving up Compstat publicationby about 10 days. Now, on March 18 (who knows, maybe it was even there yesterday), I can learn crime data up to March 13! That’s like, just last week! In the past, because Kelly didn’t release data on principle, you could see on Monday what was going on two weeks ago.…
Tag: stats
When the police reform issue is actually a “law reform” issue
My once (and probably future) co-author Nick Selby has this piece in the Washington Post: But a closer look at some statistics shows that the problem is not necessarily an issue of racist cops, and that means fixing the criminal justice system isn’t just an issue of addressing racism in uniform. … Some racial disparities in treatment by authorities actually…
A Refresher on Regression Analysis
That’s all. And not a bad refresher at that, by Amy Gallo in Harvard Business Review: “You have to go out and see what’s happening in the real world. What’s the physical mechanism that’s causing the relationship? … A lot of people skip this step and I think it’s because they’re lazy. The goal is not to figure out what…
The Denominator Problem: Throwing stones from glass houses
There’s something bordering on the absurd when newspapers write stories about police racism based on claims like, “90 percent of those arrested are African-American while African Americans make up only 65 percent of the population.” The assertion, sometimes explicit and sometimes implied, is that cops are racists hunting black men. Same thing with papers that assume that any arrest not…
Just counting people killed by police won’t fix problems. We need better data.
I and Nick Selby wrote this one for the Washington Post.
Bratton calls out Kelly for calling out Bratton! It’s an NYPD smackdown!
This Kelly vs Bratton feud has been simmering in the backgroundfor a little while. But then when Kelly accusedBratton of cooking the books(something Kelly should be familiar with, since book-cooking constantly flared up during his reign)? Well, I’ll just sit back and enjoy the fight. And here’s an insiders’ tip: the good money is on Bratton. The NYPD took Kelly…
Killed by police, Washington Post analysis
Washington Post reporters are doing what journalists are supposed to do. They’re looking at those killed by police (like the Guardian, but a bit more fairly). 815 have been shot dead by police this year as of right now (the Guardian, just FYI, pushes that number to 948. That’s a 15 increase based on people that really shouldn’t be counted…
Who’s Counting?
Chava Gourarie at Columbia Journalism Review with a great piece on data and police-involved killings.
“And they made a chart with no Y-axis!”
I’m a stickler for the honest presentation of data. Too many people, it seems me, just don’t care. I mean, it is easier to just make numbers up and share a picture on facebook if it supports your ideological position. When it comes to data analysis, I didn’t expect to find an ally in late-night TV. So check this out.…
The War on Drug does create prisoners
In the New York Times David Brooks repeats John Pfaff’s argument in Slate that the war on drugs isn’t responsible for our crazy high prison population. Brooks vouches for Pfaff as “wonderfully objective, nonideological and data-driven.” That might all be true. Pfaff is probably a swell guy and kind to animals, too. There’s something to be said for talking to…