Brice Cooke, Binta Zahra Diop, Alissa Fishbane, et al., “Using Behavioral Science to Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes: Preventing Failures to Appear in Court.” ideas42 and the University of Chicago Crime Lab, January 2018 [pdf].
• In NYC in 2014, about 41% of summons to appear in court for minor infractions went unheeded.
• Missed court hearings are costly to the court and to the defendants, who have a warrant issued for their arrest.
• But perhaps behavioral factors, not preferences, are at the root of many missed court dates; maybe people forget, or fail to plan to miss work, or don’t understand the consequences, or just aren’t paying adequate attention. (Court dates can be months after the offense.)
• Perhaps present bias leads to failures-to-appear (FTAs): the benefits of skipping a court date are immediate and the (uncertain) costs are in the possibly distant future.
• “Mental models” (such as the belief that minor offenses do not warrant a court appearance) and perceived social norms (a belief that most people don't show up at court for minor matters) might also lead to FTAs.
• The researchers redesigned the summons form, to: (1) increase the clarity of the message that the form constitutes a summons to court; (2) highlight date, time, location for the court appearance; and to (3) foreground the consequence (an arrest warrant) for failing to appear.
• The researchers also instituted a series of text message reminders about the court date. Some reminders focus on consequences of a missed court date, and some on planning. The sample size for this intervention is about 20,000.
• Both interventions are analyzed as randomized trials.
• The new summons forms reduce FTAs by 13%.
• The most effective text messages reduce FTAs by 26%; and, when a further text message is sent to those who miss their court dates, the end result is a 32% reduction in warrants issued.
• The researchers estimate that the two interventions (redesigned form and text reminders), combined, could have reduced FTAs in 2014 by 20,000 to 31,000 or so.
• Incidentally, text messages are really cheap to send, but most arrestees currently do not provide a cell phone number.
• In NYC in 2014, about 41% of summons to appear in court for minor infractions went unheeded.
• Missed court hearings are costly to the court and to the defendants, who have a warrant issued for their arrest.
• But perhaps behavioral factors, not preferences, are at the root of many missed court dates; maybe people forget, or fail to plan to miss work, or don’t understand the consequences, or just aren’t paying adequate attention. (Court dates can be months after the offense.)
• Perhaps present bias leads to failures-to-appear (FTAs): the benefits of skipping a court date are immediate and the (uncertain) costs are in the possibly distant future.
• “Mental models” (such as the belief that minor offenses do not warrant a court appearance) and perceived social norms (a belief that most people don't show up at court for minor matters) might also lead to FTAs.
• The researchers redesigned the summons form, to: (1) increase the clarity of the message that the form constitutes a summons to court; (2) highlight date, time, location for the court appearance; and to (3) foreground the consequence (an arrest warrant) for failing to appear.
• The researchers also instituted a series of text message reminders about the court date. Some reminders focus on consequences of a missed court date, and some on planning. The sample size for this intervention is about 20,000.
• Both interventions are analyzed as randomized trials.
• The new summons forms reduce FTAs by 13%.
• The most effective text messages reduce FTAs by 26%; and, when a further text message is sent to those who miss their court dates, the end result is a 32% reduction in warrants issued.
• The researchers estimate that the two interventions (redesigned form and text reminders), combined, could have reduced FTAs in 2014 by 20,000 to 31,000 or so.
• Incidentally, text messages are really cheap to send, but most arrestees currently do not provide a cell phone number.
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