4 ms·

His point is that being able to measure 'some' crime does not let you make statements about 'how much crime is committed by each race', just like being able to

His point is that being able to measure 'some' crime does not let you make statements about 'how much crime is committed by each race', just like being able to see the first row of trees in a forest does not let you make statements about how much of the forest is a particular kind of tree.

smsm42 13y ago
You can make statistical conclusions in some cases. I.e. if you take robberies, and you know that X% of robberies are commonly reported and you know that in Y% of robberies reported robbers were male, and you know that robberies committed by males and females reported with same frequency (note these are hypothetical assumptions, for the sake of example) - you can estimate how many robberies were committed by males, based on certain report statistics - not only on convictions. Of course, this would not be exact - statistics is not meant to be, the whole point is generalizing - but it would show the trends present in the data.
- jacalata 13y ago
  Right, but in this case, one of the points being questioned is whether we can assume that crimes committed by black people and non-black people are reported with the same frequency.
  - smsm42 13y ago
    Why won't they be? Do you think somebody robbed by a white person would conceal this because they feel racial affinity to the robber? I have hard time imagining this. But of course real statistics would be helpful here.
    - tptacek 13y ago
      They aren't even enforced consistently. Majority-white neighborhoods aren't policed the same way majority-black neighborhoods are.
      - smsm42 13y ago
        Err, did you read the thread? We talked about reporting crimes, not policing neighborhoods.
        tptacek 13y ago
        I do not believe you could miss the connection.
- skoob 13y ago
  This assumes that the reporting rate is the same for robberies committed by males and females. It is entirely possible that e.g. victims are less likely to report robberies commited by women. It's also possible that there is a bias in the reporting because victims tend to assume that robbers are male, even when the robber is masked and it's difficult to tell the gender of the robber.

smsm42 13y ago

You can make statistical conclusions in some cases. I.e. if you take robberies, and you know that X% of robberies are commonly reported and you know that in Y% of robberies reported robbers were male, and you know that robberies committed by males and females reported with same frequency (note these are hypothetical assumptions, for the sake of example) - you can estimate how many robberies were committed by males, based on certain report statistics - not only on convictions. Of course, this would not be exact - statistics is not meant to be, the whole point is generalizing - but it would show the trends present in the data.

jacalata 13y ago
Right, but in this case, one of the points being questioned is whether we can assume that crimes committed by black people and non-black people are reported with the same frequency.
- smsm42 13y ago
  Why won't they be? Do you think somebody robbed by a white person would conceal this because they feel racial affinity to the robber? I have hard time imagining this. But of course real statistics would be helpful here.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    They aren't even enforced consistently. Majority-white neighborhoods aren't policed the same way majority-black neighborhoods are.
    - smsm42 13y ago
      Err, did you read the thread? We talked about reporting crimes, not policing neighborhoods.
      - tptacek 13y ago
        I do not believe you could miss the connection.
skoob 13y ago
This assumes that the reporting rate is the same for robberies committed by males and females. It is entirely possible that e.g. victims are less likely to report robberies commited by women. It's also possible that there is a bias in the reporting because victims tend to assume that robbers are male, even when the robber is masked and it's difficult to tell the gender of the robber.