Can transportation subsidies reduce failures to appear in criminal court? Evidence from a pilot randomized controlled trial
The failure to appear (FTA) for a scheduled court hearing can have serious consequences for a criminal defendant. Many have speculated that transportation is a material barrier to court appearance. The authors provide evidence from the first randomized controlled trial of transportation subsidies to reduce FTAs, conducted jointly with public defenders and the transportation authority in Seattle, Washington. The most intensive intervention was a transit card providing 2–3 months of free public transportation. While the experiment is underpowered due to COVID-19 disruptions, the authors' pilot results allow them to bound the treatment effect and derive estimates of cost effectiveness under alternative assumptions. The authors' results suggest that transportation subsidies alone do not have large benefits for this aspect of criminal justice.
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- Record URL:
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01651765
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Supplemental Notes:
- © 2022 Rebecca Brough et al. Published by Elsevier B.V. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
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Authors:
- Brough, Rebecca
- Freedman, Matthew
- Ho, Daniel E
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0000-0002-2195-5469
- Phillips, David C
- Publication Date: 2022-7
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Web
- Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 110540
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Serial:
- Economics Letters
- Volume: 216
- Issue Number: 0
- Publisher: Elsevier
- ISSN: 0165-1765
- Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01651765
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Criminal justice; Free fares; Judicial processes; Public transit; Subsidies
- Geographic Terms: Seattle (Washington)
- Subject Areas: Finance; Law; Policy; Public Transportation;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01848034
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Jun 6 2022 4:54PM