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Bogus Trend Story of the WeekThe Boston Globe's story about girl-on-girl attacks.

By Jack Shafer
Posted Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007, at 2:52 PM ET

The sixth or seventh paragraph of a bogus trend story usually contains the seed of its own destruction, but only rarely does a such trend story announce its bogusity in the subhead, as does a piece in today's (Sept. 4) Boston Globe.

"Vicious Attacks By Girl Cliques Seen Increasing," reads the piece's headline. The subhead—"Despite Police Statistics, Violence Causing Worries"—all but cancels the assertion of an increase in girl-on-girl violence. Indeed, the story's sixth paragraph cites Boston police statistics that show a decline in aggravated assaults by girls, ages 14 to 19. In the first eight and a half months of 2006, 112 such assaults were reported. Over the same period in 2007, 96 assaults were logged. The number of girls in custody is also down significantly, dispelling the notion of any burgeoning trend.

Ah, the defender of the Globe story might say the article headline doesn't say vicious attacks are increasing but are "Seen Increasing." The paper's two sources speculating in this direction insist that assaults are underreported, but neither provides any real evidence. The first source, an official from United Way, tells the paper that "stigma" and "fear" prevent today's girls from reporting the assaults. The second, a street worker, says the crimes don't come to the attention of police because they're not as violent as boy-on-boy violence. In a lame attempt to show that many assaults go unreported, the Globe locates one girl—just one—who got beat up and didn't report it. Not very convincing.

Reading the story's headline literally, one could say that what the Globe story really wants to be about is an increase in horrific, vicious assaults by girls on girls—not merely a total increase in the number of assaults. The central anecdote in the story supporting this reading recounts the razor slashing of 14-year-old girl's face. The wounds took 100 stitches to mend, which qualifies as a horrific and vicious assault in anybody's book. It's the only truly vicious attack described in the article.

But the slashing anecdote is from March 2006, which you recall is a period of greater girl-on-girl assaults than 2007, which makes it a horrible data point from which to project an increasing trend of vicious assaults. If another reporter were handed the same string the Globe collected for its article, he could write an equally persuasive story titled "Vicious Attacks By Girl Cliques Seen Decreasing."

That is, not persuasive at all.

******

Thanks to reader Ken Ralff for alerting me to the Globe story. Send tips, shanks, rumps, ribs, and tenderloins to . (E-mail may be quoted by name in "The Fray," Slate's readers' forum, in a future article, or elsewhere unless the writer stipulates otherwise. Permanent disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co.)

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Remarks from the Fray:

I thought that I was the only one who noticed these bogus mainstream media pieces that focus on juveniles and proclaim that America's kids are running amok (and the only solution is more prisons or whaetver). Fake trend articles about kids have led to some of the most brutal criminal justice practices in the world and the real-life trend of arresting younger and younger children and sending more youths to adult prisons.

It's not that the criminals are getting younger, but that we are arresting people who are too young to actually commit a criminal act because they lack the mental capacity to form intent. I'm not talking about 14 year olds who slash people, but 9 and 10 year olds who miss social boundary cues and commit "sex crimes" or children who commit the same acts which once received a tongue lashing - and who are now facing felony charges. I'm talking about children under ten who are arrested for kicking a teacher or shooting a rubber band at another student. Assault and battery once meant something in this country - but not any more - it is applied to people who still believe in Santa Claus.

These faux trend stories aren't just annoying, they are cruel and destructive. Sometimes I even write to the so-called journalists themselves and point out the error of their ways, often to receive pat answers about kids committing more crimes at younger ages. Rarely do these reporters actually check Justice Department statistics or other materials to discern the truth about their subject matter.

If you google enough, you will see numerous articles declaring that younger and younger children are committing violent crimes - and these stories date back more than 30 years! There is nothing unusual about children committing violent acts - they have done so since antiquity. Often these stories take as their cue some particular crime - or alleged crime committed in bizarre circumstances. The "journalists" will then create the headline, and try to gather "facts" to fit the theme of the story. Usually these "facts" are statements by police officials that they are seeing more of "this sort of thing." That's enough for a mainstream media reporter - the story has legs. And the unusual story becomes a "trend" and not the exception.

What most mainstream media writers don't realize is that often they are pawns in budget battles. These stories about more youthful violent crimes often pop up when police and prison officials are fighting with other officials over amounts proposed to be allocated for their budgets. Everyone wants more facilities - bigger and better, whether they need them or not. All state officials spend time fighting for their share of the budget pie. State of the art facilities are the means to an end. What we discover in the end is that if you build them, someone will find a way to fill them.

So the next time you read a trend story about juveniles, ask the hard questions - and remember this fantastic piece that has been presented here - because most juvenile trend articles are garbage. Read the stats instead - they're available on the US DOJ Website.

--yerevan2

(To reply, click here.)

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