Question

In 2002, the city of Louisville passed a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night. The ordinance proved controversial and was repealed in 2003. In late 2004, however, the ordinance was reenacted and has been enforced up to the present time. City officials would now like to know if the ordinance has actually reduced youth crime and violence in the city. How will you address this?

Answer 1

City officials would now like to know if the ordinance has actually reduced youth crime and violence in the city. We will address this by conducting an observational study as follows:

Step 1: Collect data on the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period with a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night.

Step 2: Collect data on the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period without a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night.

Step 3: Conduct a Hypothesis Test as follows:

H0: Null Hypothesis: ( The number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period with a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night is not less than the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period without a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night.)

H0: Null Hypothesis: ( The number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period with a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night is less than the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period without a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night.) (Claim)

If the t score obtained from the actual data is less than the critical value of t corresponding to the significance level , the difference is not significant. Fail to reject null hypothesis. We conclude that the data do not support the claim that the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period with a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night is less than the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period without a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night.

If the t score obtained from the actual data is greater than the critical value of t corresponding to the significance level , the difference is not significant. Fail to reject null hypothesis. We conclude that the data support the claim that the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period with a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night is less than the number of youth crime and violence in the city during the period without a curfew that required youngsters below the age of 16 be off city streets after 10 o'clock at night.

By following the above Statistical Hypothesis Testing of Observational study, we will address the question if the ordinance has actually reduced youth crime and violence in the city.