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Behavioral Biases and Legal Compliance: A Field Experiment

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  • Emanuel, Natalia
  • Ho, Helen

Abstract

Many defendants fail to appear (FTA) for court despite the prospect of legal consequences. In a field experiment, we compare the effectiveness of text message reminders to an intervention that combines reminders with personalized assistance. The treatments are equally effective, reducing FTA by 8 percentage points from a 21 percent baseline rate. However, personalized assistance facilitates greater take-up of court accommodations such as rescheduling and payment plans. For more serious cases, the treatments reduce arrests by two percentage points, implying FTAs have a large effect on arrests. For the least serious cases, an FTA has small effects on fines.

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  • Emanuel, Natalia & Ho, Helen, 2020. "Behavioral Biases and Legal Compliance: A Field Experiment," SocArXiv ztnmf, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:ztnmf
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ztnmf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Laura C. Haynes & Donald P. Green & Rory Gallagher & Peter John & David J. Torgerson, 2013. "Collection of Delinquent Fines: An Adaptive Randomized Trial to Assess the Effectiveness of Alternative Text Messages," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 718-730, September.
    5. Helland, Eric & Tabarrok, Alexander, 2004. "The Fugitive: Evidence on Public versus Private Law Enforcement from Bail Jumping," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(1), pages 93-122, April.
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