When people accused of a crime forget to appear at mandatory court hearings, courts often issue a warrant for that person’s arrest. The next time that person encounters law enforcement, they are typically booked into jail to ensure their future appearance in court.
Automated court date reminders—often sent via a simple text message—have been found to increase appearance rates. But little was known about whether these reminders could reduce subsequent jail incarceration.
To explore how behavioral nudges could reduce this incarceration, we partnered with the Santa Clara County Public Defender in San Jose, CA, which serves low-income clients across one of the largest counties in the country. We worked with the defender’s office to build a software platform that sends automated court date reminders to thousands of their clients every year.
Our first experiment found that automated reminders reduce jail involvement for missed court dates by 20%—the first time this benefit has been scientifically demonstrated. Learn more in our Science Advances paper, “Automated reminders reduce incarceration for missed court dates.”
We are now testing whether other behavioral nudges are effective at reducing incarceration via a series of randomized controlled trials, including a test of whether vouchers for food or gas costs will help low-income public defender clients make it to court.
Algorithms, Data, and Public Policy Technology (ADAPPT) Lab
