Obiter confesses to being a bit of a grouch when the tummy is rumbling, but it seems he is not the only one.

This fascinating graph supplied to Obiter by science journalist Ed Yong reveals an interesting relationship between the grant of parole and the time of day.

Compiled by academic Shai Danziger from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and based on 1,100 parole hearings in Israel over a year (40% of the total during that time), the vertical axis shows the proportion of hearings where parole was granted, while the horizontal axis shows the time of the hearings during the day.

The two dotted lines are the points where the judges went on a snack and lunch break.

So the odds that prisoners will be successfully paroled start off fairly high at around 65%, and plummet to nothing over a few hours, until they rise again after break time.

It seems justice is served, but more so after lunch is served. See Ed Yong's blog.