I-Corps: ResolveAble: A Proposal to the National Science Foundation I-Corps Teams Program

这个项目探索了自动讨价还价软件的可行性，以更高效和有效地解决法院和(可能是匿名的)被控或被判犯有轻微罪行的个人之间的纠纷。美国法律制度授予法官解决轻微违规行为的权力，如未支付停车罚单和因低级别轻罪而未出庭。这一司法自由裁量权程序有可能得到改进，并通过技术进步增加其效益。目前的制度要求犯罪者要么聘请律师，要么出庭解决某些法律问题。通常情况下，律师的费用可能很高，出庭可能面临制裁的风险，包括可能被监禁。通常，许多罪犯选择不露面，这可能会限制他们生活的许多方面。有可能使法官在不需要法律代表出庭的情况下达成具有约束力的安排的技术，以及2)使被告能够与政府匿名谈判的技术，可以通过降低成本和潜在地减轻传统自首人的负面影响来促进纠纷解决。目前，美国有数千万人在法院存在突出的小问题，如法官逮捕令和未支付的罚款(确切数字尚不清楚，但大多数州至少有数十万人积压)。这些大量积压的案件放弃了大量收入，消耗了有限的执法资源，从而给州和地方政府带来了成本。通过促进法院和受影响个人之间的互惠交易，这项技术可能会改善这些私人和社会问题。此外，这项技术可能有许多替代应用：该技术可以进行修改，使目前需要多名高薪律师直接参与的法律任务自动化，例如辩诉交易。这项技术还可能用于非法律领域，例如大学招生和经济援助决定的自动化。最后，通过更多地了解罪犯的决策过程，该项目可以为法院工作人员、法官和政策制定者提供关于如何提高法院效率和罪犯遵从率的有用见解。

This project explores the viability of automated bargaining software to more efficiently and effectively resolve disputes between courts and (potentially anonymous) individuals accused or convicted of minor offenses. The U.S. legal system grants judges the authority to resolve minor infractions such as unpaid parking tickets and failure to appear for low-level misdemeanors. There is the potential for this judicial discretion process to be improved and increase its benefit through technological advances. The current system requires offenders to either hire lawyers or appear in court to resolve certain legal issues. Frequently lawyers can be costly and court appearances may involve risk of sanctions including potential incarceration. Often many offenders choose not to appear which potentially limits many aspects of their lives. Technology that has the potential to 1)Enable judges to reach binding arrangements without the need for court appearances of legal representation and that 2)offer defendants the ability to negotiate anonymously with the government, can facilitate dispute resolution by reducing costs and potentially mitigating negative impacts of traditional surrender.Currently, tens of millions of people in the U.S. have outstanding, minor problems with courts, such as bench warrants and unpaid fines (exact numbers are unknown, but most states have backlogs in at least the hundreds of thousands). These large backlogs impose costs on state and local governments by forgoing significant revenue and consuming limited enforcement resources. By facilitating mutually beneficial deals between courts and affected individuals, the technology may improve these private and social problems. Additionally, the technology may have many v alternative applications: The technology can be modified to automate legal tasks that currently require the direct involvement of multiple, highly-compensated attorneys, such as plea bargaining. The technology may also have uses in non-legal fields, such as automating college admissions and financial aid decisions. Lastly, by learning more about the offender decision making process, the project may provide court personnel, judges and policy makers with useful insights into how to improve court efficiency and offender compliance rates.