Syracuse Sun

A College of Law professor specializing in criminal court pretrial appearances is collaborating with computer science faculty to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and optimized data analysis to enhance fairness and efficiency in scheduling defendants' court dates.

Lauryn Gouldin, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and a 2022-25 Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence, is one of three researchers involved in the project titled “End-to-End Learning of Fair and Explainable Schedules for Court Systems.” Alongside Fernando (Nando) Fioretto, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Virginia, and William Yeoh, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Gouldin received a $600,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for their research. The team is examining the uniformity and fairness of criminal court-date scheduling processes, considering individual circumstances when setting court dates, and assessing whether an AI-based system can improve equity and efficiency.

Gouldin emphasizes that ensuring defendants return to court as scheduled after being released before trial is a primary goal. “Fortunately, data across jurisdictions suggest that most defendants show up for court as required. With bail reform efforts in many jurisdictions leading to higher rates of pretrial release, courts are focused on ensuring that pretrial appearance rates remain high,” she states.

Scheduling appearances at convenient times for defendants can help maintain high pretrial appearance rates and avoid inefficiencies within the court system. Gouldin notes that various legitimate hardships influence whether a defendant appears as scheduled. She points out inconsistencies in how courts consider these factors when setting appearance dates.

The research aims to develop a system predicting optimal dates and times for defendant appearances rather than assigning arbitrary ones. Flexibility in scheduling—such as evening or weekend slots—could potentially improve pretrial appearance rates while creating a more equitable process overall.

“Whether a defendant can appear in court when assigned depends on individual circumstances,” says Gouldin. Factors such as work or school obligations, childcare needs, transportation issues, substance addictions or mental health problems can affect attendance. Additionally, some defendants may not understand the court system or face specific challenges due to disabilities.

Gouldin argues that criminal courts often lack flexibility: “Maintaining a perfect attendance record under these circumstances seems especially unreasonable.” She believes more flexible scheduling practices could enhance pretrial appearance rates by accounting for these challenges.

This summer, Gouldin collaborates with research assistants to establish partnerships with judges, court administrators, pretrial service offices, and criminal defense organizations across New York State to gather data on current scheduling practices.

Fioretto and Yeoh will apply "Fair and Explainable Learning to Schedule," integrating machine learning algorithms with mathematical optimization and computerized logical reasoning to predict optimal appearance dates based on individual constraints. They aim to ensure fair scheduling regardless of race or gender differences among defendants.

Gouldin highlights the importance of fairness since judges may impose significant consequences for missed appearances even if justified: “Judges often make high-stakes decisions impacting fundamental liberty interests.” Missed dates also incur time and monetary costs for judges, attorneys, witnesses, other defendants whose cases are delayed as a result.

In Phase 2 of their research plan, Gouldin hopes to collect demographic details alongside appearance data to assess specific factors affecting attendance capability further increasing fairness in scheduling processes amid ongoing U.S.-wide reforms overhauling traditional money bail systems favoring pre-trial releases over past decade reforms focusing on releasing more individuals before trials begin making consistent returns critical now more than ever before

Gouldin’s work has been cited extensively including federal decisions state amicus briefs testimony House Judiciary Committee consulting expert Tulsa County Oklahoma litigation unconstitutional money bail systems Her article Keeping Up Appearances analysis governing policies published University California Davis Law Review later year developed NSF grant support

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