Researchers recorded the parole decisions made by experienced judges and looked at how probable favourable rulings were during the course of the day. The chart shows the results. The likelihood of a decision favourable to the prisoner starts at around 65% each session and drops to nearly 0% by the end of the session. Ponder that the next time you’re waiting for a decision from someone else about something you care about.
Source: Shai Danziger, Jonathan Levav, and Liora Avnaim-Pesso, ‘Extraneous factors in judicial decisions’, PNAS Early Edition.
Alan Schmierer