Easy interventions like revamping forms help people show up to court
Behavioral “nudges” can prevent people from facing an arrest warrant for a missed court date
By Sujata Gupta
Imagine a police officer charging a man with disorderly conduct and issuing a citation for him to appear in court. The man stuffs the slip in his wallet, where it’s soon forgotten. Then, a year later, he’s pulled over for speeding, and learns that his failure to appear in court has resulted in a warrant for his arrest.
The man’s situation is surprisingly common. From January 1, 2016 to June 14, 2017, police officers in New York City issued 323,922 criminal summonses for minor infractions, such as being in a closed park after dark, public urination or carrying an open alcohol container outside. Showing up to court frequently results in the case being dismissed.
Still, about 40 percent or more of these New Yorkers typically miss their court date, usually scheduled for 60 to 90 days after the citation is issued, resulting in an arrest warrant. But punitive measures like arrests may not be necessary to bring these defendants to court, a new study suggests.
Simple interventions, namely revamping the summons form to emphasize the court date and possibility of arrest and sending text reminders for an upcoming court appearance, help reduce no-show rates, researchers report online October 8 in Science. The study evaluated these two policy changes to New York City’s summons process that were gradually phased in during 2016. These “behavioral nudges” resulted in nearly 31,000 fewer arrest warrants from August 2016 to September 2019 than there would have been otherwise, the researchers estimate.