"In 2011 and 2012, the four branches of the armed forces had 12,881 cases of child abuse and neglect reported, 67 of them leading to the death of a child. More than 750 were sexual assault cases" (two year's data).
"In the Navy alone, 42 children died from abuse and neglect from 2008 to 2012". (five year's data)
"From 2009 to 2012, the Navy had 3,336 child abuse and neglect cases. (four year's data)".
It is obvious to me that the writer is implying that the Navy has a worse record of child/abuse cases than the other three branches of the military (e.g. "In the Navy alone...").
However, by normalizing all of the reported data over a two year period, one can see that the Navy does not experience more than its statistical "share" (25%) of child abuse/neglect-related deaths; and that it experiences far less than its "share" of total child abuse/neglect cases.
42 child abuse deaths over 5 years "normalizes" to 16.8 deaths over a two year period. 16.8 is almost exactly 25% of 67 (67 being the reported total number of child abuse-related deaths among all four branches of the military during the two-year period 2011 and 2012).
3,336 total child abuse and neglect cases over four years means that the Navy could expect 1,668 such cases over a two year period. 1,668 is about 13% of 12,881. Thus, upon further examination, it appears the Navy has fewer such instances, on average, than the other three branches of the military.
This, of course, has NOTHING to do with the actual guilt or innocence of the individual who was the subject of the story - but in my opinion this fact makes the "yellow journalism" label even more justified. The writer does nothing but muddy the water with his/her "statistics"
PS - For the record, if he is guilty then I think he deserves to die.
I understand what you are saying,....
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And I read your reply and I too agree with you. (Mutual Agreement Society, yes?)
It is really very easy to cherry pick your own facts. Is that what the author is doing here? Maybe. And sometimes the sheer number of facts really does prove the argument.
But in this case regarding this Navy lieutenant.... We just don’t know.
(But my gut tells me he is a scum-wad who deserves to die)
Good points.
It sounds like this case involved a marital dispute/divorce.
About 25 years ago my best friend was involved in a messy divorce. His wife dropped the nuclear bomb of accusing him of molesting their two young daughters, getting them to go along with the story.
I didn’t believe it then, and I still don’t. He was utterly devastated, even more by the accusation and rift it created with his girls than by the process itself.
15 years later both girls admitted they had been cajoled into the accusations by Mom and reconciled with their loving father.
OTOH, I’m with you. If the guy did it, I would have no problem with a death penalty. But accusation does not equal guilt.