Judge fatigue and mood states measurably alter sentencing outcomes

Evidence

Danziger, Levav, and Avnaim-Pesso (2011) reported another type of cognitive bias in judicial decisions. They analyzed data of parole decisions in Israel and found that the probability of a favorable parole decision declined significantly as judges adjudicated the cases sequentially, but that the propensity to grant parole increased after the judge took a break for food and tea. In other words, the more cases judges saw in a row, the worse the outcome for the defendant; and, if the judge took a break for food, the next set of defendants he or she saw received favorable treatment. … Chen and Philippe (2019) found that, in France, if the date on which the judge made his/her decision happened to be the birthday of the defendant, the sentence was reduced by 3 percent. In the United States, when the decision date and the defendant’s birthday were the same, defendants received federal sentences that were 33 percent shorter. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 756

Categorization

• XREF: The food-break finding (Israeli parole study) connects to the reader’s craft need of assessing how extraneous factors confound bias measurement; these are the classic demonstrations that legal decisions carry situational noise. — connects to: Legal standards for insanity measurably shape both plea frequency and outcomes. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1896
• CANDY: That getting a federal sentence 33 percent shorter just because it is your birthday is a striking, low-context nugget.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 756