Chances those in court are cut (4)
I believe the answer is:
odds
'chances' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for odds that I've seen before include "They could be evens" , "Partial darkness" , "inequality" , "Betting likelihood" , "Indicator of likely betting winnings" .)