An Experiment in the Law:Studying a Technique to Reduce Failure to Appear in Court

Failure to appear in court is costly to both the courts and the defendants. Researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial in Nebraska in which defendants either received no reminder about their upcoming court date or one of three postcards with different wordings. The researcher found that a reminder that included information about procedural justice and possible punishments for failure to appear significantly decreased the rate of failure to appear compared to a simple reminder.