It seems fairly straightforward, right? These are esteemed judges using their years of experience and wisdom to make critical decisions affecting not only the lives of the prisoners and their victims but the well-being of the community as a whole. Each day they heard between fourteen and thirty-five cases. So if you were a prisoner, what was the biggest factor in whether you’d go free or not? True remorse, perhaps? Your reformation and behavior in prison? The severity of your crime? None of those, actually. It turns out what really mattered was how long it had been since the judge had had a
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