Letters from the June 23, 2007, issue of Science News
By Science News
Bad start
In “Violent Justice: Adult system fails young offenders” (SN: 4/21/07, p. 243), an association is found between young offenders being tried as adults and increased criminal offenses later. The implication is made that one thing causes the other. Perhaps a better interpretation of the data would be that, because not every young offender is treated as an adult, the system is good at picking the ones that need it the most. Not every association tells you that one thing causes the other.