> Hi > > I'm having some trouble with the statistics that tasha cited.
I love this stuff. It makes for great discussion in Gen. Psych. when it comes time for availability heuristics, etc. > > > > 2000 children per year are SUBSTANTIATED as > > killed by parents. > > I have trouble believing this figure, although 2,000 would still > represent a very small number out of the many millions of > children in the USA. But elsewhere Linda Woolf noted that: > > >And now, let us look at the U.S.: > >Total homicides: 15,533 > > Putting these figures together would mean that 13% of all murders > were parents killing their children. Surely parents killing > their children must be a pretty exceptional kind of murder, and > rarer than this? I would be interested in the source of the > 2,000 murders per year. Or is there some important difference > between "being killed by" and "homicide?" > Here's the data from the National Center for Health Statistics - 1999 final data. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/dvs/mortdata.htm (I'm using 0-14 as "child" because their next grouping is 15-24. Also, when I was 15-17 I deserved to be killed by my parents). Cause of death: Number of deaths in children 0-14 All homicides: 1139 Homicides involving firearms: 282 HIV: 104 Falls: 120 Drowning: 927 Smoke/Fire: 605 Motor Vehicles: 2605 My bumper sticker: Guns don't kill kids; water does. Just say "NO" to baths! So it does look like 2000 murders by parents per year is a little high. On the other hand, I would guess that many of the other deaths could be attributable to negligence on the part of parents. I read somewhere (here I go without a source) that about half of those smoke/fire deaths are attributable to idiots who fall asleep with cigarettes dangling from various parts of their deteriorating bodies. So, how much taxpayer money will be spent this year trying to prevent pediatric HIV deaths and firearm deaths (386 deahths)? And how much will be spent trying to prevent falls/drowning/fire/motor vehicle deaths (4000+ deaths)? A.B. Shealy Columbia State U. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
