Games People Play - Even Judges

Jugalbandi – a performance in Indian Classic Music that features a duet of two solo musicians. What defines Jugalbandi is that the soloists are on equal footing. [Wikipedia ]

Words and Graphs –  they also make music when they work together.  In this post,  however,  they play  a plaintive tune. A particularly egregious game – so many young lives affected by the acts of two corrupt individuals, judges to boot and elected ones at that !!!. 

For us data visualization purveyors a wonderful example of how words and graphs can work together.  The article  and the chart is  from the New York Times – “Despite Red Flagsabout Judges, A Kickback Scheme Flourished” [March 27, 2009, Ian Urbina]

This is how the article starts –

Things were different in the Luzerne County juvenile courtroom, and everyone knew it. Proceedings on average took less than two minutes. Detention center workers were told in advance how many juveniles to expect at the end of each day — even before hearings to determine their innocence or guilt. Lawyers told families not to bother hiring them. They would not be allowed to speak anyway.

“The judge’s whim is all that mattered in that courtroom,” said Marsha Levick, the legal director of the Juvenile Law Center, a child advocacy organization in Philadelphia, which began raising concerns about the court to state authorities in 1999. “The law was basically irrelevant.” 

In what authorities are calling the biggest legal scandal in state history, the two judges pleaded guilty to tax evasion and wire fraud in a scheme that involved sending thousands of juveniles to two private detention centers in exchange for $2.6 million in kickbacks.

The bewilderment, the incredulity, the revulsion   - the words play a perfect note.  

No chart would be able to evoke the emotions  that these word do - Lawyers told families not to bother hiring them  - lawyers !

Then the charts

Excellent chart.  No unnecessary flourishes.  Minimalistic  chart.  

The facts  presented  crisply – the differences between Luzerne and the state brought out starkly. 

Making music together. Words and Charts.

We will explore this jugalbandi  further in coming posts. And we will look at other games too!