Tell Your Statistics To Shut Up

The title comes from the Appendix to Jim Bouton's BALL FOUR. Bouton says he took it from a Peanuts strip with Lucy explaining to Charlie Brown their baseball teams performance. But I digress. The Principal Bank had a P.S.A. running on WHO TV/13 in support of Children & Families of Iowa. In this PSA The Principal Bank stated it was stunned by figures regarding domestic violence. It implies that since 1995 nearly 200 people have been killed, in Iowa, by domestic violence. It also states that figure is more than traffic fatalities, rapes and muggings. Something about those figures didn't seem right to me. MORE THAN TRAFFIC FATALITIES? So, I e-mailed C&FI to see where they obtained those figures. Tara at C&FI replied, "The statistics in the domestic violence commercial currently airing on who tv/13 were provided by, The Iowa Attorney General's Office-Crime Victim Assistance Division and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence." So I contacted the AG's office and asked the same question. This is the response I received.

The domestic violence death numbers in the Principal public service announcement come from my office.  I compile them from public information.  I have kept the list since 1990.  The numbers in the advertisement are a couple of years old.  Please let me know if you need further information.  

Marti Anderson, MSW, LISW
Iowa Attorney General's Office
Crime Victim Assistance Division

To which I replied

I'm trying to understand why the Principal ad states that more people are killed by domestic violence than by traffic accidents, rapes & muggings. According to IDOT, 450 people were killed in car crashes in 2005. There were 388 traffic fatalities in 2004 and the state has averaged 445 deaths annually over the last 10 years. Which
is correct?


Anderson, Marti [AG] wrote:

 I would have to hear the ad again, but I don't think it says "more people are killed by domestic violence than by traffic accidents, rapes & muggings."  I think it says that "more women are injured and require  emergency medical care for domestic violence than from traffic accidents, rapes & muggings combined."

My reply was

You might want to see the spot again. My wife and I have both seen it,
and couldn't believe those figures were correct. Thanks

Needless to say I haven't seen that particular PSA since. The point is...While any figures, concerning these serious topics, are TOO many. You just can't be pulling this stuff out of thin air!