The benefits of live court date reminder phone calls during pretrial case processing

Objectives The aims of this study are to test the effectiveness of court date reminders on failure to appear (FTA) and to test their effectiveness based on demographics and case characteristics. Methods Randomized controlled trial with four treatment groups: (1) no call; (2) reminder call made 3 days in advance of the appearance; (3) reminder call made the same day of the appearance; and (4) reminder call made both 3 days in advance and the same day. Participants included individuals released before their first appearance (arraignment) for which the provider had a phone number at which to make a reminder attempt. Some demographic information is available (race, sex, and age) and some case characteristics are available (the time from arrest to arraignment, and charges). Results Using an intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis, reminders reduced the FTA rate by 37%. The results suggest the timing of the reminders was not important. People of color benefited from the reminders more than white participants. Participants with a longer time between the arrest and the arraignment benefited more than participants with a shorter time between the arrest and arraignment. Conclusions Court-date reminders may reduce racial disparities in FTA rates. Future research should attempt to include measures of perceptions of procedural justice and other measures of socioeconomic status. The current study is limited by small disparities in intended and attempted treatment, and lack of data on perceptions of procedural justice, and socioeconomic status.

Automated summary

The effectiveness of court date reminders on failure to appear (FTA) was tested in this study, along with their effectiveness based on demographics and case characteristics. The results showed that reminders reduced the FTA rate by 37%, and the timing of the reminders was not important. People of color and participants with a longer time between the arrest and the arraignment benefited more from the reminders.