Accurate Data … no matter the story

You can’t have smart policy without accurate data.
Christina Hoff Sommers

Okay, I did write down that quote from memory, but still, the quotation above is true. It doesn’t matter what your fantasy is … if you actually want to make a difference, you need to know the actual data. You might still propagate something else, but if you are at least somewhat true to yourself, you need to look under the hood.

And yeah, the actual numbers might surprise you.

The last time I had a “fuck me” moment was when I was looking at the crime numbers for domestic violence. And yeah, that place … being home … that is a place when you are an adult when you should be safe, but aren’t. Yeah, I get the emotional outrage. That should not happen.

But I was still surprised at the actual numbers. Including considering the teaser and the cover of the reports.

The bars that matter are on the left side. The leftmost column reads “Murder and homicide” and “criminal assault with fatal assault” (the person did attack the victim and the victim died). Dark blue is female victims, light blue is male victims.

So, yeah, a report series leading with “violence against women has many faces” and … that stereotypical image of domestic violence … and … let’s for a moment bypass the underreporting of men being victims by just looking at the one number that is really hard to hide — death. And damn, that number did surprise me.

And that is the number that really has “Umpf” because after that situation has occurred, nothing less is relevant.

So yeah, holla. And yup, get the numbers that matter. 25% of the murders of aggravated assaults in relationships are men. When was the last time you did get that information?

 

Edit Notes: Some spelling and numerical errors. BTW, the absolute numbers might be low (in the case of murder), but still, the distribution is interesting. Esp. considering the huge stigma when it comes to me being victims of domestic violence.