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> Seems like the study is confusing cause/effect. The article provides literally no context on which to base that judgment. The study could most certainly have
by gipp 9y ago
> Seems like the study is confusing cause/effect.
The article provides literally no context on which to base that judgment. The study could most certainly have been designed to (at least attempt to) disambiguate all of the issues you're talking about here. Everything you've mentioned is experimental design 101, these are routine things to take into account.
Of course, since the study (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/09/26/1701544114.abstract http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/09/26/1701544114.abst...) is PNAS and not open-access, I also have no context to make any conclusions.
- thanatosmin 9y agoQuickly reading through the study, they stratify prisoners by severity of crime, claiming this is a natural experiment because the only remaining variation is in the judge selected. Not an expert in sentencing but I thought extenuating circumstances can be considered which wouldn't be corrected for here.