Emotions Control
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Recently, I stumbled across an interesting study published online by the ABA Journal (aka American Bar Association Journal). Researchers discovered that when the LSU Tigers unexpectedly lose a football game, the juvenile judges take their anger/frustration at the loss out on the juveniles before them by imposing longer sentences. (“Louisiana juveniles got longer sentences after unexpected LSU football losses, study finds” posted online September 8, 2016)
I am particularly amused by this study because I attended both undergraduate and law school at Tulane University in New Orleans, La., a longtime rival of LSU. After many years of Tulane losing in football to LSU, the teams no longer play each other, but the rivalry still exists.
Anyhow—back to the study. The researchers- Ozkan Eren and Naci Mocan- two economic professors at LSU- found that the average length that the judges sentenced juveniles to probation and jail time was about 513 days. However, when LSU football suffered an unexpected loss – that disposition increased by about 35 days. Moreover, when LSU was ranked in the top 10 before a particular game and then lost, the disposition was almost twice as bad– by an average of 63 days longer.
Evidently, this occurred even where the judge did NOT attend LSU as an undergraduate. Where the judge did attend LSU, the disposition was even more severe- 74 days longer.
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