Statistical information

Whether you know it or not, you are already a mass consumer of statistical information, but are you a critical
consumer? Daily, you are bombarded with numbers in nearly all aspects of life, but how often do you stop and
consider the validity of all those sounds bites, recent polls, and quotes? The goal of this class, above all else, is
to hone your ability to be critical of information you are exposed to. Watch the video above from John Oliver’s
Last Week Tonight on the public defenders of this country and answer the following prompts.
1. While watching the video, did any of the fact presented by John make you question the “facts” or how they
were presented? That is to say, did anything he mentioned make you think “wait, what?” if so, what and why? If
nothing he said sounded questionable, why do you think that is?
2. Assuming the information presented is accurate, is this the best way to disseminate these issues to the
general public? Why or why not?
3. If you were the spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, how would you spin these numbers to make it
look like this is not an issue and everything is fine? To put it another way, how would you make some of these
damning statistics about public defenders being overworked look like a positive thing for the criminal justice
system?

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