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[quote=Anonymous]I once a had a Stats prof in college who had an interesting philosophy about statistical analysis and social policy.

He used to say the stats are numbers and trends.  They do not take into account the human condition and individual circumstances. Thus, while stats can be used to measure the impact of an issue on society, they cannot be used to adequately measure the impact on individual members of society.  IMO, this is a prime example.

Sure, we can say that more of a certain race are arrested in relation to their % of the population.  I am sure some people would feel that those types of stats justify detaining them (although the whole racial profiling debate is casting a shadow over it).  However, while the stats are arguably useful on some level, it is not a comfort to the individual who was unjustifiably detained or had a gun drawn on them.   "Sorry Johnny, but purple guys are more likely to commit crimes.   That is why we pulled our guns on you with no evidence that you did anything wrong other than you being in the vicinity when a crime was comitted.  Our bad."  
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