Upcoming Research On How Travel Time Affects Missed Court Appearances

July 30, 2024
by Raven Simonds, Bosco Villavicencio and Jasmine Hwang

For over 50 years CJA has been working reduce unnecessary pretrial detention in New York City. One of the best ways to address that problem is by maintaining high rates of court attendance, just over 14 percent of people who were released to the community awaiting disposition were served a bench warrant during the first half of 2023. A new research project that CJA is embarking on will shine light on this important topic, and explore ways to make the pretrial legal system more efficient and equitable. CJA will be working with the Catalyst Grant Program, a collaboration between the Urban Institute and the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative to support the efforts of nonprofit organizations to use data and technology to advance racial equity and reform in the criminal legal system.

People may miss court dates for a myriad of reasons, but insufficient awareness of court dates and social factors most likely play a role. In most states, failure to appear in court can have severe repercussions, including additional charges, arrest, and fines and fees. Black people are disproportionately likely to face barriers such as financial hardship that make it more difficult to appear in court. In addition to the punishment for individuals who fail to appear, another result of missed court dates is the costs to jurisdictions.

With Catalyst Grant funding, CJA will collect and analyze data on the city’s five boroughs to examine whether distance to court and travel time affect appearance at scheduled court dates differently in communities of color. The agency will consider the distance people awaiting trial must travel from home to criminal court and will analyze the interplay between economic hardship, social inequities, travel distances, and their effects on failure to appear.

This is not the first time CJA has examined geospatial relationships in research. Last year David Topel and other Research team members analyzed bail setting practices in relation to poverty. The Catalyst Grant Program will help CJA take these methods of research and visualization to new levels.

CJA will also use geographic information systems to map geospatial relationships to show how clients commute to court. These visual representations will be easily interpretable, making the findings accessible to policymakers, community leaders, and the public. The map and findings will serve as a powerful tool for advocating for more accessible court locations in urban and underserved areas.

CJA is excited to collaborate with our partners at Microsoft and The Urban Institute, and we're looking forward to the incredible projects being pursued by our partners in this class of grantees.