AN ASPECT OF STATISTICS ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Being statistically literate implies that a person is able to evaluate, discern and comprehend statistical information. Statistical information provides vital data on the performance of an economy, the environment, and the well-being of the general population (Feature Article – What is statistical literacy and why is it important to be statistically literate? (Feature Article), 2021). Therefore, statistical literacy is important as it allows a person to understand and appreciate how statistics contributes in making decisions that affect private, personal, and public entities (Definitions and models of statistical literacy: a literature review, 2017).

The description of criminal justice as numbers with social context provides the statistical diversity of members of the society on issues of criminal justice. This statistical data provided envisages the view of the general population on penalties and decision concerning bringing criminals to justice. For instance, a report on Criminal Justice Contact and Mental Health (Sugie & Turney, 2017) documents detrimental implications of imprisoning mentally impaired criminals. A hypercritical analysis and understanding of such information is vital in making decisions and verdicts during criminal justice processes.

In a report analyzing policy making and incarceration of criminals, (Hetey & Eberhardt, 2018) find that the public exhibits disparity as there is higher chance for people to increase severity of criminal punishment or decline to sign a certain petition on discriminations of race. As a result, not all data should influence decisions and research on criminal justice as statistical data on criminal justice can provide prejudiced information resulting to erroneous criminal justice decisions. Consequently, such data should be invalidated and pave way from stakeholders to strive for utmost objectivity and virtuous decisions.

To guard statistical data on criminal justice against implicit bias, there is need to address social disparity which influences decision making by criminal professionals, and ensure an ethical providence of criminal justice information thus, allowing maximum objectivity in criminal justice decision making.

References

‌ Definitions and models of statistical literacy: a literature review. (2017). Open Review of Educational Research. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23265507.2017.1354313

‌ Feature Article – What is statistical literacy and why is it important to be statistically literate? (Feature Article). (2021). Abs.gov.au; c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of Statistics. https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/lookup/1307.6feature+article1mar+2009

‌ Hetey, R. C., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2018). The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves: Racial Disparities and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Justice System. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(3), 183–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418763931

Sugie, N. F., & Turney, K. (2017). Beyond Incarceration: Criminal Justice Contact and Mental Health. American Sociological Review, 82(4), 719–743. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122417713188