This lawyer believes in second chances. Now AI is providing a boost
Public defender Noella Sudbury is leveraging AI technology to streamline the labor-intensive process of clearing criminal records for individuals seeking employment. By automating the analysis of legal documents, the software helps people overcome barriers to housing and work caused by past arrests.
Why it matters
AI-driven legal tech has the potential to reduce systemic barriers to economic mobility for individuals with criminal records.
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Since her days as a public defender in Utah, Noella Sudbury has been obsessed with solving a problem: How do you help someone with a criminal record get a job?
Sudbury had grown frustrated seeing so many people dedicate themselves to changing their lives but still fail to secure housing or work once background checks were run.
A history of arrests involving drugs or retail theft — the most common offenses — can scare off employers.
"They make assumptions that someone's dishonest, or they're going to steal," she says. "We should have a presumption of innocence, but unfortunately, you see something that scares you, and you make a subjective decision."
Research has shown that, in fact, people who have gotten their criminal records cleared are less likely than the general public to commit a crime.
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