The Waterkooler

Thanks to the WSJ Best of the Web for this one. It reminds us here at the Waterkooler of how the media likes to confuse the issues on what would otherwise be common sense...

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. prison population grew "at a rate of about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004." And of course the AP's Siobhan McDonough treats us to the usual confusion about what it all means:

While the crime rate has fallen over the past decade, the number of people in prison and jail is outpacing the number of inmates released, said the [Bureau of Justice Statistics] report's co-author, Paige Harrison. For example, the number of admissions to federal prisons in 2004 exceeded releases by more than 8,000, the study found.

Hmm, more criminals are in prison and the crime rate is down. Seems like simple cause and effect to us, but somehow it's supposed to be a paradox.

A Washington Post editorial, meanwhile, has another variation on this "paradox":

In Baltimore, murders are up and convictions are down. You read that correctly: Even as the city has gained the dubious distinction of having the nation's highest big-city murder rate, prosecutors say that conviction rates in homicide cases are falling. The main cause is that, increasingly, witnesses will not cooperate or testify, often because they are afraid. And no wonder: Since last September seven witnesses have been shot or murdered--a rate of about one a month.

The authorities are having a harder time prosecuting murderers, and there are more murders. "You read that correctly," says the Post--but why wouldn't you? It makes perfect sense.