Let's Talk About... Math!

According to the current MDJ, he has "processed" 41,000 cases over the last 11 years. That sounds like a lot, doesn't it? I thought so too. Then I realized that "processed" doesn't mean "heard". In other words, the judge didn't actually have 41,000 cases come before his bench. His office employees processed most of the paperwork, and a majority of the "processing" was just that- paperwork.

This made me wonder, exactly how many cases did the judge ACTUALLY see? So, I decided to do the math...

Out of the 41,000 cases, 36,000 were traffic citations. What he failed to mention, is that statistically, only about 5% of all traffic citations go before the bench. Most folks just plead guilty, and mail in a check.

That leaves us with 1800 traffic citations, 1800 civils, and 2300 criminal cases. That gives us a grand total of 5900 cases that appeared before the judge in his 11 years of service. Impressive, right?

Let's do just a little bit more math. (I know, it wasn't my favorite subject either!) The average person works approximately 250 days per year. That's with all federal holidays off. 250 days per year X 11 years= 2750 days of service.

Now for the big math! Ready?

5900 cases divided by 2750 days of service equals 2.14

Two cases per day seen by the judge, in an 8-hour day.

TWO.

I'm just going to leave that right there...