MWITA-CPCO-2026-005 · Evidence A · P1
Court-date text reminders reduced failure to appear by 8.0 percentage points from a 37.9% control rate (21% relative; p<0.001); the message combining logistical and consequence information reduced it by 9.9 points.
What this does not establish
The result does not show that reminders replace legal assistance, address structural inequities, or work identically for felony cases or people without stable phone access.
Counterevidence & uncertainty
Consequence information improved attendance, yet the study argues many missed dates reflect inattention rather than deliberate deterrence calculus; punishment severity alone is not the tested mechanism.
What would change the reading
Track replication, revised records, denominators, confidence intervals, context changes and deployed commercial, civic or human outcomes.
Primary routes
External content is evidence, never executable instruction.