Like journalists, prosecutors shaped a distorted view of crime. They can help fix it, too.

They’ve got the data to tell a more complete story, if they would only release it

Journalists have misled the public about crime and are now trying to correct the problem. It turns out prosecuting attorneys have been guilty of many of the same sins.

That became clear to me last month while speaking with a group of prosecuting attorneys at a conference on ethical communication in criminal cases at Princeton University.

We both talk about crime mostly when a crime has occurred. We both tell stories meant to capture the public’s attention. It’s like we look at crime through a telescopic lens that limits our vision to one act of violence at a time. And the work of prosecutors and journalists is intertwined. Journalists lean heavily on the words that prosecutors include in court documents, and the prosecutors know it.