Stats and noise

January 4, 2013

AMIDST THE NOISE – Blogger

The year end has brought all sorts of claims and disclaimers about the specific meaning of crime statistics as revealed by the various reporting agencies from municipalities and politicians across North America.  The gun law debate in the US will undoubtedly lead to extensive stat vs stat argumentation and will likely miss the human and societal values question altogether.  No one wants to know what we teach our children when our relationships can only be regulated by a gun.  Here is a video entitled “Chose your own crime statistics” that offers a quite unique understanding of response to crime stats but one that may hopefully prevail.  http://tgace.com/2013/01/01/interesting-vid-about-crime-statistics

 Broward Country-Palm Beach (Florida) – New Times – Kyle Swenson
Gone Shootin’ – Stand Your Ground Laws Increase Homicide Rates, Study Finds

On the other side of the gun debate, this study in Texas suggests that the stand-your-ground legislation in some 23 states has resulted in a 7-9% increase in homicides.  The stats depend on how police classify the incidents. http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2013/01/stand_your_ground_laws_increas.php

 International Business Times – Lianna Brinded
The Complexity of US Gun Crime and the Fallacy of Oversimplified Comparisons

This author is offering caution in the interpretation of some basic understandings around guns.  Switzerland where the most recent multiple homicide has occurred has the third highest ratio of guns to citizens (after US and Yeman).  The gun-to-citizen ratio ignores a number of factors and says Brinded: “Regardless of whether you are strong right or left, pro- or anti-, there is no denying there is a problem in the US with gun crime and a lax use of at-face-value statistics is a dangerously myopic approach to addressing the problem.”   Brinded explores the gun-citizen ratio, the cultural context, and the mental health edges to the issue.  http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/420584/20130104/daillon-switzerland-swiss-shooting-sandy-hook-newtown.htm

 Reuters News Agency – Sharon Begley
U.S. mentally ill and their families face barriers to care

The article is US based but is a swirling pot of controversy around a number of recent events involving crime, mental health, human rights, including Newtown and NRA as well as the availability and access to mental health resources.  “Public mental health services have eroded everywhere, and in some places don’t exist at all,” said Richard Bonnie, professor of law and medicine at the University of Virginia. “Improving access to mental health services would reduce the distress and social costs of serious mental illness, including violent behavior.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/29/us-usa-shooting-mentalyill-idUSBRE8BS07O20121229

 London Evening Standard – Rob Parsons
100 youths break away from gangs with the help of Jobcentre advisers

Specialists gang advisers put in place at government job centers across the London boroughs have made an impact on the exit strategy from gangs for a significant number.  http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/100-youths-break-away-from-gangs-with-the-help-of-jobcentre-advisers-8438114.html

 IIRP Newsletter
Harvard Business Review – Leadership is a conversation

RJ may be piercing the corporate management climate according to the IIRP Blog.  Harvard authors Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind are saying “the old “command-and-control” model of business administration has given way to other models.” http://blog.iirp.edu/2012/07/leadership-is-a-conversation-harvard-business-review/?utm_source=Restorative+Practices+eForum+2012+Digest&utm_campaign=eForum&utm_medium=email

 Fast Company – Nina Mandell
New NYPD App Will Help You Fight Crime (And Make You Afraid Of The Subway)

More info than you really care to have or survival skills? “The New York Police Department has gone mobile with an iPhone app that allows the public to view wanted lists, crime statistics, breaking news, and wanted rewards.”  http://www.fastcompany.com/3004467/new-nypd-app-will-help-you-fight-crime-and-make-you-afraid-subway