Text Messages to Improve Court Appearance Rates
Program overview
Reducing failure to appear with text message reminders: Text message reminders may be used as a behavioral intervention to reduce the rate at which individuals miss court hearings.
Providing individuals the option to receive a text: As part of this strategy, courts and their criminal justice system partners collect individuals’ phone numbers, either at arrest or when a summons, ticket, or citation is issued. Courts then send multiple automated text messages in advance of an individual’s court date. Messages may be formatted as simple reminders that explain the consequences of not appearing and prompt the recipient to make a plan for how they will appear.
Cost-saving intervention: Failure to appear warrants are costly for both recipients and the criminal justice system. Since each text message costs less than a cent, compared to the cost of pre-trial detention, text message reminders present a significant cost-saving opportunity while also reducing the number of people being arrested on FTA warrants.
Multiple studies with both rigorous and less rigorous designs provide some evidence for text message reminders as a strategy for reducing failure to appear rates in courts.
A 2020 research synthesis found that text message reminders appear to reduce the rate at which individuals miss court dates. However, the limited statistical rigor of certain studies limits their generalizability.
A 2018 randomized controlled trial found that reminder messaging reduced FTA by up to 26 percent relative to the control condition, in which no reminder messages were provided.
Ask for phone numbers, and explain why: A literature review found that a key failure point in a text message reminder system is inaccurate or incomplete contact information. As such, summons forms, tickets, and citations should provide a space to collect phone numbers. When issuing the summons, ticket, or citation, law enforcement partners should offer an explanation that phone numbers will be used to remind recipients of their court date.
Send text messages that combine consequences and plan-making: Court systems should send a reminder that includes: (1) a prompt encouraging the recipient to make a plan to appear on a certain date, and (2) an explanation of the consequences of failing to appear. An evaluation found that text messages that included these two components were more effective than messages with only plan-making prompts or only consequence explanations.
Send repeated text messages: Program administrators should send multiple text message reminders, spaced out to give people enough time to make a plan to attend, but not too early such as to cause procrastination. An example schedule would be reminders a week before, three days before, and one day before the court date.
Send a follow up text if a court date is missed: When individuals fail to appear for their court dates, court systems should send a follow up text explaining that an arrest warrant has been issued and encouraging recipients to appear at the courthouse and clear the warrant. These reminders should provide instructions on how to clear the warrant, as well as a reminder that they will not be arrested if they do so.