http://www.usatoday.com/news/snapshot.htm?section=M&label=2010-03-16-clunkers
There is a graphic pertaining to the incarceration rates in prisons under the news tab of USA Today's snapshots section (graphic 18/20).
The graphic relates directly to what the article is talking about. It is a picture of a simple prison and portrays the two lowest and highest states per 100, 000 residents. I don't think that this graphic is all that effective. It basically reminds you of what a prison would look like and many of us already know or have some kind of an idea of what one would entail. The way the statistics are placed on the graphic are very vague and vulerable. Looking at the graphic almost makes me think it is pointless they could just state that Maine has the lowest and Louisiana the highest. The graphic is also uneffective because it shows almost a cute version of a prison. There is nothing shocking or eye catching about the portrayal of the prison one could almost think that it is a brick house with a huge chimney. When presenting such high incarceration rates the graphic should reflect the negative aspect of such rates not that Lousisiana has the most people living in cute little prisons. This graphic sugar coats the fact that there are such high incarceration rates in the U.S., therefore not effectively delivering the shocking rates to the viewers.
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I agree that the prison graphic showed in the snapshot definately is made out to look not so bad. It has a huge chimney on it, making it look more like a house-type building than a prison. They could have made the picture look more like a prison than just a building.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I thought the numbers were clear, being in big bold numbers, I agree that they weren't as effective of showing just how high the numbers were. They could have made the number graph much more effective in showing what their point was. The snapshot didn't make their point of aweing the audience into thinking about the high incarceration rates- it was more plain and boring. I agree with your post!
as much as i agree with you two on how the graphic didn't display how serious the incarceration rates were in some states, there are still a couple of points that i differ on.
ReplyDeletewhat i don't think this graphic does well is show a broad range of information. it gives us 4 out of 50 states. the two highest and two lowest. that doesn't really speak to me on any really intense terms. i would assume that some states have high crime rates and incarceration rates and others do not. it's just natural.
what i do think this graphic did well was presenting the facts that it did give.
the first is that nearly 900 people out of 100,000 being in jail is pretty significant. it comes out to about 1 out of every 120 people being in jail. coming from a background where i could tell you maybe one person in prison... if i thought really hard about it, that number is pretty serious to me.
the other thing that struck me were the states with the highest rates: louisiana and mississippi. mississippi is the lowest income state in the nation and louisiana isn't far behind (41st lowest income). which creates an assumption that their is some connection between crime rate and income.
as far as the graphic itself, i don't think it really affected my overall judgement of it. i don't think it's dolled up at all. it looks about on par with all of the rest of USA Today's graphics. i also don't think that is a chimney, it looks like a guard tower to me.