A later paper showed that you would get the same effect from a simple, rational time management approach. Cases that are granted parole tend to take longer to decide than those that are denied parole.

If the judges can estimate before the hearing which type of case it is likely to be (from things such as the thickness of the case file, what kind of representation the petition has, etc.), they would tend to schedule the cases that look like they will take longer first thing in the morning, or after lunch, or after the afternoon break, and they would schedule the shorter cases closer to break times.

This would result in more granting of parole in the morning and after breaks than before breaks.

Here's an article about this [1].

[1] https://mindhacks.com/2016/12/08/rational-judges-not-extrane...

Or should we leave the lunchtime factor out and just dilute the unfairness across every sentence?