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Behavioral nudges reduce failure to appear for court
Alissa Fishbane1, Aurelie Ouss2, Anuj K Shah3
1ideas42, New York, NY 10004, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|October 9, 2020
Summary
Millions of Americans miss court dates, leading to arrest warrants. Redesigned court summons and text reminders significantly reduced failures to appear and subsequent warrants.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Criminal Justice Policy
- Public Policy
Background:
- Millions of individuals annually fail to appear in court for minor offenses, resulting in arrest warrants.
- This failure to appear (FTA) phenomenon has significant consequences for individuals and the criminal justice system.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate interventions aimed at reducing failures to appear in court.
- To examine public perception of the intentionality behind failures to appear and its impact on policy support.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two field studies in New York City implementing redesigned summons forms and text message reminders.
- Performed laboratory experiments to assess laypeople's and criminal justice professionals' beliefs about FTAs.
Main Results:
- Interventions reduced failures to appear by 13% to 21%.
- These changes are projected to prevent 30,000 arrest warrants over three years.
- Laypeople perceive FTAs as more intentional than criminal justice professionals do.
Conclusions:
- Making critical court information salient through redesigned forms and reminders is effective in reducing FTAs.
- Public perception of intentionality influences support for punitive measures versus supportive policies.
- Criminal justice policies can be improved by acknowledging and accommodating human error in unintentional offenses.
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