USA Today fails numeracy

USA Today headline:

51% of school violence incidents flared in just 10 states last year.

Sounds terrible. Which are these awful states?

Fifty-one percent of all incidents of violence and threats against schools took place in just 10 states during the 2017-18 school year, a report released Monday finds. 

California, Florida, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina and Virginia, which are ranked the top 10 “states of concern,” accounted for 1,851 threats and episodes of violence out of 3,654 nationwide, according to the Educator’s School Safety Network. 

Hmmn so what is it about those states which causes such violence and threats.

Hmmn, aren’t they all quite large states in terms of population?

Yes, those 10 states of concern make up 53.6% of the total US population so by comprising 51% of threats and violent episodes, they actually are slightly less than the average.

Though this year’s states of concern are located around the country and have varying gun-control policies, a few factors link them together, said Amy Klinger, director of programs at the ESSN, an education-based non-profit focusing on violence prevention in schools. 

I’d say one factor links them together – population.

This story is stupid. It would be like a story in NZ revealing that a third of school violence in New Zealand occurs in Auckland.