The challenge
About 40% of people summonsed for low-level offences missed court, triggering arrest warrants.
The case
In 2014 roughly 40% of New York City's 320,000 low-level summons cases ended in a missed court date. The Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, the NYPD and the courts worked with ideas42 and the University of Chicago Crime Lab to redesign the summons form, putting the court date, place and consequences at the top, and from March 2016 to test text reminders on about 20,000 recipients. The new form cut failures to appear by 6.4 percentage points from a 41% baseline. Any pre-court text cut them by 8 points from 38%, a 21% fall, and the best message set by 26%. Together they avoided an estimated 20,800 warrants a year; the city adopted both citywide.
Why it worked
Many missed court dates come from forgetting or confusion rather than defiance, so clearer information is a cheap and humane alternative to tougher penalties. Each text cost under one cent.
Sources
- Fishbane, A., Ouss, A., & Shah, A. K. (2020). Behavioral nudges reduce failure to appear for court. Science 370(6517).
- J-PAL. Text message reminders decreased failure to appear in court in New York City.
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