Dr. Alex Chohlas-Wood and colleagues published an article in Science Advances testing the effectiveness of automated reminders in partnership with Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office. In this study, the research team randomly assigned 5,709 public defender clients to either receive text message reminders or no reminders before their mandatory court dates. The text message reminders significantly reduced both warrants issued and subsequent incarceration for missed court dates by about 20%. These findings show that pretrial reminders could provide low cost, positive advantages for communities as well as highlighting that simple lapses in memory are reasons for missing court dates.