How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
Truth-O-Meter rulings
The goal of the Truth-O-Meter is to reflect the relative accuracy of a statement.
The meter has six ratings, in decreasing level of truthfulness:
TRUE – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.
MOSTLY TRUE – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.
HALF TRUE – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.
MOSTLY FALSE – The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.
FALSE – The statement is not accurate.
PANTS ON FIRE – The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.
PolitiFact scribes were busy last week checking out claims related to crime and corrections. We examined statements about school shootings, about educational opportunities available to Georgia prison inmates, and about the rates of incarceration in the U.S. and other countries.
With Jeb Bush’s announcement that he’s exploring a possible 2016 bid for president, we also gave readers a chance to see how statements of the former Florida governor rated through the years on the Truth-O-Meter.
We’ll be providing a look at some of our favorite fact checks next week as we wind down the year and send wishes to our loyal readers for safe and happy holidays and a prosperous new year.
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L.C. “Buster” Evans in a Nov. 12 press release: “It has been many years, if ever, since an inmate has completed his or her high school diploma while incarcerated in a state correctional facility for adults.”
Gov. Nathan Deal announced in November that the state Department of Corrections will be partnering with a charter school to help inmates at Lee Arrendale State Prison in Habersham County receive their high school diplomas.
Seven out of 10 inmates in Georgia’s state prisons lack a high school diploma or GED, the governor said.
“It has been many years, if ever, since an inmate has completed his or her high school diploma while incarcerated in a state correctional facility for adults,” L.C. “Buster” Evans, assistant commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, said in a Nov. 12 press release.
Evans is correct.
Until now, inmates who enter the system as high school dropouts have only been able to receive their GEDs, a certificate of high school equivalency recognized by the vast majority of employers, colleges and universities in the U.S.
Data from the Technical College System of Georgia show several thousand inmates have obtained their GEDs since 2009, including 1,167 in 2014
Officials believe this new high school program will have a long-term impact on recidivism. But the fact that inmates have been able to obtain their GEDs is important context.
For that reason, we rated Evans’ statement Mostly True.
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Everytown for Gun Safety in a report released Dec. 10: Georgia has had 12 school shootings in the two years since the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary School, more than any other state.
A new report lists Georgia as leading the nation in school shootings since the 2012 mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It said Georgia had 12 such incidents.
Everytown for Gun Safety is very transparent about its methodology and criteria, which go beyond the common understanding that a school shooting is an intruder or student shooting at innocent classmates and staff.
That’s how, for instance, the 12 incidents in Georgia include a 17-year-old student who accidentally shot herself with an illegally concealed firearm in a February 2013 incident at Grady High School.
Also added to the tally in the new report: what turned out to be a suicide attempt in May in the parking deck of Georgia Gwinnett College.
It is accurate, by its broad definition, that Georgia led the nation in the group’s version of “school shootings.” The report is also useful in explaining what often leads to violent incidents at school and college campuses.
In the end, there is value in the findings, but significant context is missing from its overall conclusion.
We rate the claim by Everytown for Gun Safety as Mostly False.
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Matthew Cooke in a Huffington Post column on Dec. 10: The United States has “more of our people in prison than Russia, China, and North Korea combined.”
Following on protests stemming from the shooting of Michael Brown, director-writer Matthew Cooke and producer-actor Adrian Grenier co-wrote a Huffington Post column that called on Americans to support three groups focused on making changes in criminal justice. Many of the claims in the column were supported by links from outside sources, but one that wasn’t caught the eye of a reader, who asked us whether it is true.
“Behind the front lines we’ve systematically corralled masses of Americans into the largest prison system on the planet. We have more of our people in prison than Russia, China, and North Korea combined,” the column said.
When we contacted Cooke, he acknowledged that the comparison is questionable, as respected (and conservative) estimates for China and Russia alone exceed the low-end count of American prisoners. Cooke said he would change the line in the column to be more accurate, and it now says, “We have more of our people in prison than anyone else — more than Iran, more than North Korea, more than Russia or even China.” (Kudos to him for acknowledging the error.)
Still, experts say the preferred measure of comparison, a country’s incarceration rate, shows the United States far ahead of other countries, which supports the underlying point.
We rate the claim Mostly False.
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A review of comments by Jeb Bush
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced on Facebook Dec. 16 that he “decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States.” His decision elevates the role of Florida, already a crucial swing state, in the 2016 elections.
It also gave the scribes at PolitiFact a chance to show off some of its past work. We’ve fact-checked statements by Bush 20 times, rating five True, seven Mostly True, two Half True, four Mostly False, one False and one Pants On Fire.
His Pants On Fire rating came for a Thanksgiving Eve 2013 tweet: “Why would our president close the embassy to the Vatican? Hopefully, it is not retribution for Catholic organizations opposing Obamacare.”
As it turned out, President Barack Obama was not closing the embassy to the Vatican — the U.S. was moving to a more secure location closer to the Vatican. In addition, the move didn’t originate with Obama. It has been in the works since George W. Bush — Jeb Bush’s brother — was president. Finally, we found no evidence to support the idea that the relocation was related to battles over Obamacare.
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