Using Behavioral Insights
to Reduce Warrants for
Low-Level Crimes
Aristocats

Defining the Decision and Decision-makers
Defendants
● Court Attendance
● Utilization of a
lawyer
Judges and Court Officials
● Decision to issue an
arrest warrant
○ Bench Warrant
○ No Show Penalty
○ Jail Sentence and
Fines

How are Decisions Made
Gather
Information
File away
memory
Weigh Pros
and Cons
Receive
Summons
Take Action

● Refusal to appear at
summons immediately
results in an arrest warrant
being issued.
● No message reminders
were being sent to
individuals with
outstanding tickets
What types of mistakes or “suboptimal” decisions are
common in this context?

● Arrest warrants are very
costly to the criminal
justice system and
recipients.
● Reduction of administration
cost would benefit
taxpayers.
Why are mistakes or sub-optimal decisions in this
context problematic for individuals and/or for general
public welfare?

● Make it Timely!
○ Don’t set court dates further down the
line than needed
● Make it Attractive!
○ Make sure recipients of tickets know
the consequences of not appearing in
court.
● Make it Easy!
○ Send reminders to recipients of tickets
so they know when and where they
must appear to get rid of the ticket
Which behavioral insights principles might be relevant
for improving decisions in this context?

Improving
Decision-
Making
2.

Context-Dependent Biases (Social norms)
- Misperception that most people do not attend their court dates,
- Consciously or unconsciously influences their own decision to
attend or not
Present Biases
- Taking time off work or fears around what may happen at
court, outweigh the consequences of not appearing
Inattention
- Long lag time b/w receiving the summons and attending court leads
many to forget
Behavioral biases and heuristics being targeted

Partnership between New York Mayor’s Office and ideas42
- MOCJ, OCA, and NYPD1
- External, broad technology and research based organization2
Improvement and Innovation
- Taking an existing program, summonses, and updating the format3
- Adding a new program to the solution using technology: mobile messages
Solution
- Information and Reminders4
- Form Reduction + Text Reduction: providing clarity and facilitate attendance
Intervention
1. https://www.ideas42.org/new-text-message-reminders-summons-recipients-improves-attendance-court-dramatically-cuts-warrants/
2. https://www.ideas42.org/projects/
3. https://www.ideas42.org/blog/court-monday-increasing-appearances-decreasing-warrants-behavioral-science/
4. https://www.ideas42.org/blog/new-behaviorally-informed-nyc-summonses-hit-streets/

How did the behavioral intervention improve outcomes?
What (if any) is the potential for unintended negative
consequences of the intervention?

Discussion
Questions
This can be the part of the presentation where you
can introduce yourself, write your email…

Discuss Possible Extensions - Corinne
Section
How might this
intervention be
extended/applied to other
behavioral interventions
to further improve this
decision context?
01 Section
You can describe the
topic of the section here
02
Section
You can describe the
topic of the section here
03 Section
You can describe the
topic of the section here
04

Criminal justice system
A
Attend Court
Miss Court
B
Judge decides to issue
warrant
Judge decides to
reschedule with
additional penalties
Receive
Summons

Name of
the section
You can enter a subtitle
here if you need it
01.

Introduction
You can give a brief description of
the topic you want to talk about
here. For example, if you want to
talk about Mercury, you can say
that it’s the smallest planet in the
entire Solar System

A picture is
worth a
thousand
words

Awesome
words

Law enforcement
Mercury
It’s the closest planet to
the Sun and the smallest
in the Solar System
Venus
Venus has a beautiful
name and is the second
planet from the Sun
Mars
Despite being red, Mars is
actually a cold place. It’s
full of iron oxide dust

130,000
Big numbers catch your audience’s attention

Criminal justice degree programs
Mercury
It’s the closest planet to
the Sun and the smallest
Venus
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Saturn
Saturn is composed of
hydrogen and helium

Adversarial system
Mercury
It’s the closest planet to
the Sun and the smallest
in the Solar System
Venus
Venus has a beautiful
name and is the second
planet from the Sun
Mars
Despite being red, Mars is
actually a cold place. It’s
full of iron oxide dust
20% 15% 60%

Corrections and
rehabilitation
Do you know what helps you make your point
clear? Lists like this one:
● They’re simple
● You can organize your ideas clearly
● You’ll never forget to buy milk!
And the most important thing: the audience
won’t miss the point of your presentation

Corrections and rehabilitation
Follow the link in the graph to modify its data and then paste the new one here. For more info, click here
Venus
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
31.7% 35.3%
24.4% 8.6%
Mars
Despite being red,
Mars is a cold place
Neptune
It’s the farthest planet
from the Sun
Saturn
It’s composed of
hydrogen and helium

Academic discipline
Venus
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Mars
Mars is actually a very
cold place
Neptune
It’s the farthest planet
from the Sun

$ 15,000
Venus has a lovely name
340,000 m
Saturn has several rings
60,000
Despite being red, Mars is a cold place

Trial calendar
Neptune
It’s the farthest
planet from the Sun
Venus
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
Month: July 2021

Conclusions
Mercury is the closest planet to
the Sun and the smallest one in
the entire Solar System. It was
named after a Roman god

Our team
John Doe
You can talk a bit about
this person here
Lisa Smith
You can talk a bit about
this person here

Courts
Saturn
Saturn is composed
mostly of hydrogen and
also helium
Mars
Despite being red, Mars is
actually a cold place. It's
full of iron oxide dust
Venus
Earth is the third planet
from the Sun and the only
one that harbors life
Neptune
Neptune is the farthest
planet from the Sun. It's
also the fourth-largest

Criminal
justice ethics
Venus
Venus has a beautiful
name and is the second
planet from the Sun
Mars
Despite being red, Mars is
actually a cold place. It’s
full of iron oxide dust

About criminal justice
Mercury
Mercury is the closest
planet to the Sun
Venus
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Mars
Mars is actually a very
cold place
Jupiter
Jupiter is the biggest
planet of them all
Saturn
It’s composed of
hydrogen and helium
Neptune
It’s the farthest planet
from the Sun

Saturn is a gas giant and
has several rings
It’s the biggest planet in
the Solar System
It’s the farthest planet
from the Sun
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Criminal justice requirements today
Neptune
50%
Saturn
15%
Venus
10%
Jupiter
22%

Maybe you need a graph
Neptune
It’s the farthest planet
from the Sun
Venus
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Jupiter
Jupiter is the biggest
planet of them all
Follow the link in the graph to modify its data and then
paste the new one here. For more info, click here

Modern police
Follow the link in the graph to modify its data and then
paste the new one here. For more info, click here
Neptune
It’s the farthest planet
from the Sun
30,000,000
Venus
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Ceres Sun Mars
Earth is the third planet from the Sun

“This is a quote, words full of wisdom
that someone important said and can
make the reader get inspired.”
—Someone Famous

Adversarial system
Venus Jupiter Ceres
Mercury
It’s the closest
planet to the Sun
It’s the biggest
planet of them all
Venus is the second
planet from the Sun
Neptune
Mars is actually a
very cold place
It’s composed of
hydrogen and helium
It’s the farthest planet
from the Sun
Mars
It’s located in the
main asteroid belt
It’s now considered a
dwarf planet
It’s at the center of the
Solar System

Public criminology
Saturn
Saturn is composed
mostly of hydrogen and
also helium
Mars
Despite being red, Mars is
actually a cold place. It's
full of iron oxide dust
Earth
Earth is the third planet
from the Sun and the only
one that harbors life
Neptune
Neptune is the farthest
planet from the Sun. It's
also the fourth-largest

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● Black woman pointing at document near lady with pen at table with calculator and gavel
● Close-up of mature male adviser holding contract in hand giving pen
● Lawyer with smartphone

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● Close-up judge gavel with its striking block
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● Portrait elegant old man
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and statue

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