25 Jan. 2010. – 12:11:15
There are lies, damned lies and statistics.
This phrase of uncertain lineage has been around for over a century. It is even
more apposite now in the age of the spin doctor. Nowhere are spurious so called
facts and figures thrown at us more often than in the analysis of all that is
associated with criminal behaviour.
The latest figure to enter this debate is
Professor Marian Fitzgerald visiting professor of criminology at Kent Crime and
Justice Centre, University of Kent who states that There is little
connection between the use of stop and search powers by the Metropolitan
police and reductions in knife crime.
It is not my intention to dispute here what
the professor is assessing from the figures she has used but the effect
isolated analyses such as these have upon a largely innumerate population.
Conclusions such are reported mean
absolutely nothing without knowledge of the professor`s remit and sponsor,
without detailed information of those actually stopped and searched, their
previous criminal history, the consequences of the stop and search eg the
arrest rate, the number of cautions issued as a result, the charges [if any]
brought and the conviction rate and final sentence of those brought to court.
Perhaps some or all of these numbers missing are in the professor`s paper and
perhaps not. But the net result is purely political and will be another
misleading avenue down which our political parties will travel in the coming
four months in their attempts to convince us they are or are not doing all they
can in the matter of protecting the citizen and punishing the guilty.
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