7/13/2013

Something to remember when prosecutors in the Zimmerman case talk about a 17-year-old as a child


This figure is from my book Freedomnomics.  17 year olds commit the seventh highest percent of all murders by year of age.  Of course, not only you won't hear this in the media, we keep on being shown pictures of Trayvon Martin from when he was 12 years old.  For example, here is a piece from the Associated Press on Friday (click to make larger).  A blowup of the picture is available here.
Here is something from Fox News:


3 Comments:

Blogger Old NFO said...

The media is NOT about telling the truth, it's about pushing an agenda. Thanks for the clarification!

7/13/2013 8:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I see, John. So a statistic about a population tells you everything you need to know about a specific individual?

7/14/2013 2:50 AM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Dear 9f10d328-ec51-11e2-8d95-000bcdcb2996:
The media's use of a picture of Martin when he was 12 years old is used to play on our sympathy for young people. A 12 year old wouldn't have attacked Zimmerman. But the point of the post was that 17 year olds shouldn't be afforded that same sympathy. I am not saying that all 17 year olds are murderers any more than one can say that 12 year olds would never commit murder, but I was responding to the general impression that the pictures of a 12 year old Martin were creating.

7/14/2013 10:26 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home