Headline: Texas polygamist kids abused, officials say. Evidence offered in the brief story?
Commissioner Carey Cockerell, who oversees the state agency now caring for the children, said medical examinations have revealed numerous physical injuries, including broken bones in “very young children.”
How many hundreds of kids did they take to find “numerous physical injuries” including broken bones in “very young children”?
Nearly 500.
Go to any elementary school. If you see a cast, that child has been abused, right?
the story I heard on the radio was just less than 10% of the children had broken bones where the national average is 1% or less. A sample survey of 500 is pretty good to get a statistical view into what is going on with a particular population.
but, there may be other environmental reasons that this could be happening that we dont know about (calcium deficiency, etc)
Had current broken bones, or had had broken bones? Which is the 1% average, current or complete history?
that I dont know. my assumption is that they were comparing apples to apples (current broken bones) but you know how statistics are used in the media. anyway to show dispare.
I am pretty sure that there was an environment that we wouldnt want our kids in at that compound but all my information is getting fed to me by talking heads, news feeds, and the radio. Definately not good enough to make a judgement.
I’d go even further and say that the statistics might be shaded by government officials seeking to justify their actions.
The media could just parrot without further thought the statistics provided. Particularly since they approve of the government intervention.