That indispensible newspaper, the Economist, includes an amazing and disturbing article this week on judicial decision-making. The article profiles exhaustive research on parole decisions made by Israeli judges. The good news is that neither the sex nor ethnicity of offenders influenced parole decisions. The less good news is that the rate of denying parole was strongly related to how long it had been since the judge had a break for lunch. Judges being people, they become tired after hearing many cases without a break, and opt for decisions that take less mental effort, in this case keeping the prisoner in prison.