Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by cmn32480 on Monday January 02 2017, @02:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the requesting-a-continuance dept.

Judges in the United States tend to give defendants longer sentences the day after switching to daylight saving time compared with other days of the year, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Previous research has shown that people tend to sacrifice, on average, about 40 minutes of sleep when they "spring forward" to daylight saving time, and even this small amount of lost sleep can have negative consequences, including an increase in workplace injuries, slacking off at work, and auto accidents. The results of this new research suggest that shortened sleep associated with the change to daylight saving time might also affect the severity of sentences doled out by judges.

"We find that the sentences given to those convicted of crimes may be partially polluted by the sleep of those giving the punishments," says researcher Kyoungmin Cho of the University of Washington, first author on the study. "Sleep is a factor that should not play a role in their sentences, but does."

Journal Reference:
Kyoungmin Cho, Christopher M. Barnes, Cristiano L. Guanara. Sleepy Punishers Are Harsh Punishers: Daylight Saving Time and Legal Sentences. Psychological Science, 2016 DOI: 10.1177/0956797616678437


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by stretch611 on Monday January 02 2017, @04:29PM

    by stretch611 (6199) on Monday January 02 2017, @04:29PM (#448549)

    Screw it all...

    Lets go to UTC for all. (and yes, I truly believe this. Even more after watching that video.)

    And yes this will mess with the minds of bosses/supervisors that think everyone should work 9-5. But I'm fine with that because IMHO everyone should base local work hours locally.

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @05:10PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 02 2017, @05:10PM (#448568)

    Does not solve a fucking thing.

    • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday January 02 2017, @05:33PM

      by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 02 2017, @05:33PM (#448578) Journal

      Does not solve

      Given that the problem to be solved is "arbitrarily changing clocks as of certain calendar days", the proposed solution "leave the clocks at one specified time" solves not only that problem, but the "calculating what time it is somewhere else" problem as well....

      • (Score: 2) by sjames on Monday January 02 2017, @07:46PM

        by sjames (2882) on Monday January 02 2017, @07:46PM (#448620) Journal

        But ignores the if I call now, are they at all likely to be awake problem so handily solved by timezones.

        • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday January 02 2017, @08:30PM

          by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 02 2017, @08:30PM (#448632) Journal

          are they at all likely to be awake problem so handily solved by timezones.

          Although we often use timezones in calculating things like this, the presence or absense of the sun in the sky has a much, much higher influence on whether they are awake than does the system of numbering used to represent the path of said sun on a clockface.

          Time zones don't solve the problem so much as codify it. The time zones follow the sun, not the other way round.

          • (Score: 2) by sjames on Monday January 02 2017, @08:48PM

            by sjames (2882) on Monday January 02 2017, @08:48PM (#448641) Journal

            Sure, but removing the codification would tend to make the answer more elusive and less specific. What are we supposed to gain for that?

            • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday January 02 2017, @08:57PM

              by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 02 2017, @08:57PM (#448646) Journal

              Using actual local time leads to bizarre train/bus schedules and is unworkable if you ever communicate with someone outside your village.

              As such, the time zones we have are based on local time "somewhere" (not necessarily where we are) and we decide to track along with the time of that somewhere.

              I agree, everyone picking the same arbitrary somewhere such as UTC makes time calculation more difficult even as it solves other problems. Making it not much of a solution.

              I am thinking that the time zones should just not change for "daylight" time, but rather stick to the time as it is in your zone. If you need more daylight at the end of your day, schedule your activities earlier in the day.

              • (Score: 2) by sjames on Monday January 02 2017, @09:33PM

                by sjames (2882) on Monday January 02 2017, @09:33PM (#448653) Journal

                I can understand not being all that enamored of changing the clock, but I also understand the rationale. Too many bosses too unwilling to change the start and end of business hours until the other guy goes first. By mandating a change of the clock itself, everyone goes at once even if they don't do anything.

                IMHO, it is nice having an extra hour of daylight in the evenings.

                • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday January 04 2017, @06:42PM

                  by urza9814 (3954) on Wednesday January 04 2017, @06:42PM (#449468) Journal

                  IMHO, it is nice having an extra hour of daylight in the evenings.

                  Around here (RI) it's all pointless. Summer daylight is 5am - 8pm; winter is 7am-4:30pm. Keeping DST year-round would help a bit, as if you work the usual 9-5 then having light from 8-6 would be great, 7-5 just means the whole damn state drives home in the dark every night. But really I feel like we ought to just shift all the timezones west a bit and target 9-6 as daylight hours, if not even later. Even if I wanted to run errands before work while I have the light, nothing's open that early. People are more likely to be out after work than before, so it seems more useful to have extra daylight after usual business hours than before. Unless you just want to overcompensate for people being tired in the morning.

                  Of course, I don't usually work 9-5 so I don't care all that much, but even if I'm 7-3, 12-8, 3-11...any shift at all, at worst moving daylight later would have no real impact.

                  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday January 04 2017, @09:27PM

                    by sjames (2882) on Wednesday January 04 2017, @09:27PM (#449536) Journal

                    I would be fine with keeping DST year round. I remember the year Nixon got DST moved up to Jan 6th. Apparently many were squawking about dangers for kids waiting for the bus in the dark, but I and all my friends thought of it as a fun time when we got our parents to let us play with flashlights. Honestly, the flashlights weren't really necessary given the streetlights and such, but the kids enjoyed it.

                    Information on that seems sparse now so I have no idea if any of the worries were founded (though I doubt it) since I was only in 2nd grade at the time.