The Daily Ablution has an interesting report on how the Times (London) is reporting religious hate crime statistics. The facts from the British government report:
Number of cases finalised by 31 March 2003: 18 . . . .
Actual or perceived religion of the victim
Muslim 10
Sikh 2
Hindu 2
Jewish 1
Jehovah’s Witness 1
Christian 1
Not Stated 1The religion of the defendant was not identifiable in all cases. However, in 6 cases, the victim and the defendant were of the same religion (Muslim).
As the number of cases concluded during the reporting period is small, it has not been possible to identify with any degree of accuracy emerging trends. The predominant offences appear to be public order assault and harassment . . . .
What do you think the headline and the opening paragraph of the Times story say? (To the Times‘ credit, the following paragraphs reveal the details, but many people often read just the headline, or just headline and the first paragraph or two.)
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