Court Date SMS Reminders to Reduce Failure to Appear
City of New York / ideas42 · New York City, NY, United States · 2015
Summary
The ideas42/NYC experiment found that most failure-to-appear events for low-level summons are driven by forgetting rather than intent to evade. Three SMS reminders reduced FTA by 21%, with the effect concentrated in defendants who had received only one prior summons (less experienced with the system). The intervention avoided thousands of arrest warrants, reduced the burden on courts, and prevented the collateral consequences of warrants (job loss, housing instability) at very low cost. The finding is robust across replications in Louisville, Houston, and several other cities.
Research question
"Do SMS reminders reduce failure-to-appear rates for summons court dates?"
Methodology
Intervention
Defendants with upcoming summons court dates received SMS reminders 1 week, 3 days, and 1 day before hearing
Assignment
Randomized controlled trial (defendant)
Sample size
20,000 defendants
Primary outcome
Failure to appear (FTA) rate
Effect estimate
FTA reduced by 21%; equivalent to 30,000 fewer arrest warrants annually if scaled citywide
Decision
NYC scaled SMS reminders to all summons defendants; multiple other cities adopted; estimated 100,000+ warrants avoided annually
Result
Positive
FTA reduced by 21%; equivalent to 30,000 fewer arrest warrants annually if scaled citywide
Evidence strength
Strong
Randomized trial, replicated across multiple sites or studies.
Replication status
Replicated
Institution
City of New York / ideas42
Location
New York City, NY, United States
Year
2015
Policy area
Public Safety
Mechanism
Information