Thinking Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

278 Unit 7 Critical reasoning: Advanced Level

CHART 6

Graph showing incidences of bank robbery before and after the mass pardon of prisoners in

Italy in July 2007

1/04

45678

Bank robberies per 100 banks 4 Prison population (100,000)

45

55

56

1/05 1/06

End of month/year

Month of Prison1/07 1/08

Robberies per 100 banks Prison pop. (100,000)

a   Give a critical assessment of the

evidence provided in Chart 6. How

much corroboration does it give to the

claims in the newspaper extract? (Look

particularly carefully at the scales on

the graph: robberies on the left axis and

prison population on the right.)

b   Based on the statistical data from both

sources, draw one precise, credible

inference about the relationship

between prison and crime.

2    Find a newspaper or magazine article

which uses statistical data to support

a claim or claims. Make one or more

critical comments on the way the data is

interpreted and presented, and give an

overall assessment of the claim(s) made

on the strength of the evidence.

Answers and comments are on pages 340–41.

1    Read the short extract. Also examine

Chart 6 below, which is related to the

same topic. Then answer the questions

that follow.

Peaks in crime rates tend to be associated

with a significant reduction in the

prison population. Although this trend

can be observed in several countries, for

instance Denmark and Portugal, the

paradigm example is Italy. In 2007, the

total number of police-recorded offences

catapulted by over 160,000, following a

mass pardon of prisoners the previous

year. The crime rate only began to fall

once the prison population crept up

towards its 2006 level.

Carolina Bracken (UK Daily Telegraph)

End-of-chapter assignments