[GolfyMcG]

Additionally, I don't like the percent increases on absolute numbers. I feel like some normalized data (either per capita, or per capita in specific metropolitan areas) would be very helpful.

Ie. Fake example, The crime in San Francisco shot up by 400% - woah! So much more crime. The population in San Francisco also shot up by 10,000%. Oh, so you're telling me that the ratio of criminals to non-criminals dropped by 95%?

[GolfyMcG]

Ps. I don't know why I expect a better analysis from this article since it's in Slate...

[skwirl]

Having seen the numbers, they are actually referring to the crime rate, and not raw crimes.

[JackFr]

Your cognitive bias is showing. Common sense should tell you that a 400% increase is outstripping population growth, but here are the numbers: US population went from 183M to 252M during that period.

[talmand]

>> Ie. Fake example