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P-values: What Do They Prove?

Mary W. Gray Statisticians face a difficult audience when asked to explain p-values, confidence intervals, standard deviations, and many more complex statistical models to judges and juries—especially...

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Where Is the Reverend Bayes When Needed?

Mary W. Gray Originalism is an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution holding that only what was in the minds of the drafters should be used in determining what it now means. The doctrine is alive and...

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Leveling the Playing Field

Litigation involving the statistics of higher education is once again before the Supreme Court in the current term, as Fisher v. University of Texas is set to be heard by the court. Whether the court...

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Actuarial Risk Prediction and the Criminal Justice System

Sonja Starr Consider the following scenario: Two defendants, Robert and William, are convicted of the same crime—Each stole $10,000 worth of jewelry from a jewelry store. Neither has any prior...

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Statistics Go to School and then to Court

As John Tukey said, “Statisticians get to play in everyone’s backyard.” That includes involvement in vexing issues such as the right to a quality education and how to achieve it. What is often cited as...

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Who Gets to Vote?

Contrary to what is generally believed, the U.S. Constitution explicitly guarantees no one the “right to vote.” Rather, the 14th Amendment protects constitutional rights in general from abridgement by...

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Adjusting the Odds

Just as you may have used statistics to resolve issues for others, you too may benefit from their judicious use. Mary Gray discusses legal options you have if you ever think decisions made for you are...

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Is Statistics Down for the Count?

Statistics took a beating in last year’s post-election existential crisis. Part of the problem was, of course, that probability is just that. Too many fail to understand that a 71.4% probability does...

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Whom Shall We Kill? How Shall We Kill Them?

Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun once said, “I shall no longer tinker with the machinery of death.” What about the use of statistics to address these questions? A 2012 report from the National...

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Code of Silence

How private companies hide flaws in the software that governments use to decide who goes to prison and who gets out Rebecca Wexler This article originally appeared in the June/July/August issue of the...

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Alexa Did It!

Mary W. Gray We previously examined the dangers inherent in the ubiquity of algorithms, particularly when their structure is difficult to discover and evaluate due to intellectual property protection....

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Call Mr. Fisher

Mary Gray Expert statistical testimony has come a long way since a judge characterized Fisher’s Exact Test as “hearsay” and demanded that Mr. Fisher be called to testify.1 Indeed, since the O.J....

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The Odds of Justice: Dangerous Models?

Mary W. Gray “All models are wrong, but some models are useful” is the familiar George Box refrain. But for what are they used? Statistics has enjoyed (or suffered) a lot of attention during the...

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And the Winner Is …

For many years, the statistics community has recognized that there are underrepresented groups among us. Like many educational institutions, public and private employers, foundations, and the...

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Liars, Damned Liars, and …

Mary Gray and Nimai Mehta Swaths of land, caravans of traders through the ages, have been the source of disputes. Equally long ago, although Deming exempts God, everyone else has relied on data...

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The Struggle for Equal Pay, the Lament of a Female Statistician

Mary W. Gray You have been diligent and productive for your many years on the job. Finally, your salary seems to be like that of similarly qualified male colleagues and you are looking forward to the...

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Risk

Mary Gray We generally, as statisticians or otherwise, think of discrimination as something bad. We often struggle to discover it and its effects. Discrimination, we say, is treating people...

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