Newsflash: Lucia de B. gets re-trial!

Dutch nurse Lucia de B., convicted to a life sentence for the murder on 7 infants during her shifts, is now entitled to a re-trial. Why do I write about it here? Because one of the grounds she was convicted on was a statistical argument. A statistical argument that has been thoroughly contested by prominent statisticians, arguing that according to the court’s line of reasoning, one out of every nine nurses would go to jail!

I have written before about this statistical argument, but did so in Dutch. For those interested, I’ll give you a short recap, and a nice movie.
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Lying with WordPress statistics

I must admit that I repeatedly feel flattered by the number of page-views on my blog as shown by the WordPress statistics plugin. However, despite the nice graphical representation, they are a little too flattering for the humble number of page-views my blog attracts. A traditional line-graph consists of two axes. Traditionally, these are referred to as the x-axis, and the y-axis. To say it bluntly: the wordpress statistics plug-in messes up on account of both axes. … Continue Reading