When it comes to a topic as serious as sexual assault it is important to collect information from each side of the issue. So, what information is lacking in this article? One example is there is no reference to those falsely accused of sexual assault and the impact that it had on them. The only mention of this is a brief statement “Between 2 per cent and 8 per cent of complaints are false reports, according to research from North America, the United Kingdom and Australia.” While this supports the authors’ claim because it is a miniscule number, the statistics does nothing to show the impact that these false reports can have on the people accused. A false accusation of sexual assault is a serious offense and one that can play a significant role in someone’s life even if proven innocent.
	 Another issue that I had with this article is how Doolittle collected data about several different police stations and their unfounded rates for sexual assault but included minimal information from law enforcement as to why the data is the way that it is. Similar to the issue with false accusations, data alone doesn’t always tell the whole story.  Now in The Globe’s defense, they did reach out to over 100 police stations with a questionnaire and received minimal response from them. They should have worked out a compromise with these stations of some way to get data because of its importance to the article. . I am not saying that these police stations are doing things correctly, because they very well may not be, but it would be beneficial to hear from several of the police stations as to why these unfounded rates are so high. 
The reason that I point out what some might consider minor details as arguments against this article is because of the implications that this article could have on those involved.  As previously mentioned, based on the data presented, I do agree with Doolittle’s claims that sexual assault is a problem and the rates in Canada of unfounded claims are far too high. The issue is that not directly going to law enforcement may lead to false policy decisions because they lack information from an important source. There is a fine line when it comes to determining guilty and innocent, one that if altered even the slightest will have huge ramifications. Based on this article, it is clear that The Globe and Doolittle feel a huge change is needed to the laws and how sexual assault claims are processed. If laws are changed in the process that this article is hinting then surely the unfounded rate would decrease but Canada would certainly see that 2 to 8 percent of false reports increase. 
Data journalists have a unique ability to tell a story that is hard to dismiss due to access to data not readily available to the public. With this ability, comes responsibility to assure that the article contains accurate data as well as data from each side to the story. The article Why Police Dismiss 1 in 5 Sexual Assault Claims as Baselines by Robyn Doolittle presents a significant amount of data from official sources that back her claims. What it doesn’t include is much data from the other side, which is essential in proving a point. 
